Marxists everywhere in the world believe that the only thing that does not change is change itself but several Marxist veterans in Kerala seem to be losing the ability and patience to understand, tolerate and accept the changes taking place around them, especially the changes occurring in the methods of struggles of the young generation and marginalised sections.
Sociologists say that the intolerance expressed by certain top leaders of the Kerala CPI(M) towards the ‘Kiss of love’ protest campaign against moral policing and the Nilpusamaram (Standing Agitation) of Adivasis at the gates of the State Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram was expressive of this inability to change with the changes occurring around them.
It is alleged that the intolerance being shown by the veteran Marxists - a sociologist called them dogmatists- towards the new forms of struggle has its origins in their frustration due to their failure to convert any of their recent agitations into success. "They curse the world instead of cursing themselves. In a sense, they are becoming outdated," said a Kochi-based rights activist.
State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan had criticised the ‘Kiss of love’ protests, currently spreading across Kerala like some viral fever, effectively terming it as a social and psychological aberration and Politbureau member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had attacked almost all forms of new-age agitations by calling them anarchist.
The irony is that the veteran Marxists are slamming new-age protest forms when the party's youth wing, the DYFI, was prepared even to provide protection to those participating in the Kiss of love protests in the face of violent responses from moralists. The DYFI had not joined the stir but its leaders held that the kissers had the right to adopt their method of struggle.
The rights activist said that the veterans' intolerance towards "change and its expressions" is nothing new. "In the party classes, they (veterans) used to tell the budding comrades how to become good moralists. In essence, they knowingly or unknowingly support conservatism and this is evident in their view on marriage, family, man-woman relationship, etc," he said.
Complaints are being aired even by young Marxists that Pinarayi's statement on ‘Kiss of love’ had in effect been some kind of an encouragement to the moralists who had opposed the kissing protests held in the State recently. "It is inappropriate for a husband and wife to enact in public what do in the privacy of their bedroom. People may not agree with it," Pinarayi had said.
Kodiyeri went a step further the other day to slam all kinds of new-age struggles. "What do we have around usIJ Standing stir, sitting stir, walking stir, hugging stir, kissing stir… Inquilab has now become Chumba-lab (Chumbanam in Malayalam means kiss)," he said in Kollam, indicating that all such methods of agitation promoted anarchy.
Journalist-psychologist BS Panicker says this perspective of Pinarayi and Kodiyeri is indicative of their feudalist mindset. "This is not anything new as far as many Marxist leaders in Kerala are concerned. They may call themselves revolutionaries but there are occasions when their feudalist outlook comes out," he said.Critics point out that the Marxists have always been interested in inventing and promoting new methods of agitation despite their current hatred for new stirs. Not long ago, they had staged a "cooking stir" across Kerala. A few months back they had staged a Rappakal (day-night) stir which was jokingly called by many as sleeping stir.
Meanwhile, a kissing protest against moral policing held on Saturday at the venue of the 19th International Film Festival of Kerala in Thiruvananthapuram led to some tension as a group came up to oppose it. The major kissing protests staged at Kochi on November 2 and December 7 in Kozhikode had ended in tension and police action.