The faction war between the neo-liberalists in the Kerala CPI(M) headed by State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and traditionalists led by veteran leader VS Achuthanandan has intensified once again with the latter refusing to accept the “autocracy of the majority as democracy” and the former emphasising that every decision in the party would be taken by the majority.
At the same time, the CPI(M) State committee decided to openly censure trade unionist and veteran leader MM lawrence, also one of the fiercest adversaries of Achuthanandan in the party, as a disciplinary measure for bringing “disrepute to the organisation by taking positions that the party cannot tolerate” in an interview given to a newspaper.
Achuthanandan, who is awaiting a crucial session of the central committee next month to know of his fate in the party, had announced at a programme the other day that real communists could not accept the autocracy of majority as democracy. “Communists are not cowards who would take back a step they have taken out of fear for the majority,” Achuthanandan said.
Marxist theorists interpret this statement as a direct response to a statement made by Pinarayi recently that there would be no leaders without followers. The Traditionalists of the CPI(M) have always been complaining that the neo-liberalists are suppressing them using their brutal majority in the State committee, secretariat and other forums.
Achuthanandan said that he had always held fast to what he viewed as right and that he would have withdrawn from several of his struggles if he had cared to respect the unjustifiable decisions of the majority. “There are occasions when one has to face temporary setbacks and ridicule but such situations do not weaken me,” he said.
Achuthanandan’s veiled but intense attack against the neo-liberalists has come at a time when the central committee is set to take up a demand of the State leadership for some stringent action against him for “violating leninist discipline”. The neo-liberalists want him removed as Opposition leader in the State Assembly or demoted to some insignificant lower committee.
In what CPI(M)-watchers term as a deliberate decision not to get into a war of words with Achuthanandan as the central leadership is going to take up his case, Pinarayi on Sunday chose to downplay the veteran leaders’ criticism. “You in the media are generating unnecessary interpretations. What VS said was in no way a reply to my statement,” he said.
“However, Pinarayi could not resist the temptation to make some comment on what VS said. Hence, his statement that it is the majority which decides matters in organisations,” said a neo-liberalist leader. “From what I know about Achuthanandan, he would come up with a reply to this statement in the coming days leading to escalation of the issue,” he said.
At a Press conference after a meeting of the party State committee in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday, Pinarayi confirmed the decision to openly censure lawrence, known as one of the fiercest enemies of Achuthanandan within the party. “Action is being taken against him because he has adopted a position that is unacceptable to the party,” he said.
The decision on disciplinary action against lawrence was taken in the name of an interview he gave to a newspaper in which he said that trade union leaders like him and KN Ravindranath were victims of an “annihilation campaign” initiated by Achuthanandan to whom Pinarayi and others like today’s Politbureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had then pledged total support.