In Kerala’s Left heartland, the party brings life, or death

Also Read | Part-I: How the Left is using the Right to stay alive in it’s last bastion of Kerala

For Jayan, the inevitable attack on TP had been hanging above like a sword, ever since the duo, along with a dozen others, broke away from the parent CPI(M) to form the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) in 2008. Having lost their voice and the conviction in the internal democratic structure of the CPM, they had left the party to present before the people an alternate version of the Left they believed in. Leading that charge was TP, widely popular among the people and a strong backer of the faction led by VS Achuthanandan within the party. The turning point of the breakup was when the CPM’s local leadership decided to give away the post of the president of a local panchayat, held by a close aide of TP, to an ally without consulting him. This irked TP and others who saw it as a move to sideline them, considering how the party’s leadership was mostly seen as loyal to longtime-secretary Pinarayi Vijayan. The next day, they organised a public meeting, raising slogans against the ‘undemocratic’ nature of the party, promptly attracting its ire. That night, the party’s television mouthpiece, Kairali announced their expulsion.

Also Read | Part-II: The rebel within: Fears that CPM has become an electoral machine not focussed on workers

Jayan, who had followed TP Chandrasekharan from the CPM to the RMP, has also been attacked allegedly by a gang linked to the CPM. He spent several weeks in the ICU after suffering injuries to ribs, hands and legs

“TP is the kind of leader you’d find at a home where a marriage or funeral in the area would take place. Not sitting in front of the house like other politicians, but in the kitchen or at the back, helping the family during that occasion. When I met him for the first time, he was boiling rice for those attending a party meeting. Imagine, he was a big DYFI leader at that time,” recalled Jayan, sitting in a small rented office of the RMP in Orkkatteri.

“He was sharp, rough and strong on principles. Even after being expelled from the CPM, there were many murder attempts on his life. In his last public speech, he had talked about dangers to his life,” he added.

The hostilities between the two parties, both professing to follow the same Marxist ideology and carrying the same red flag, reached its peak with the killing of TP on the night of May 4, 2012. Waylaid by an armed gang, TP was first thrown to the ground and then slashed 51 times on his face, hands, chest and legs, draining much of his blood on the streets of Orkkatteri. Nineteen months after that killing, a special additional sessions court convicted 12 persons, three of them belonging to the CPM.

At the spot in Vallikadu near Orkkatteri, where TP Chandrasekharan was hacked by an armed gang, a solitary police van stood, lending a sense of foreboding in the air.

For a state that reinforced the Communist movement in the country, TP’s killing defined a new abnormality, sparking feverish media scrutiny and prompting calls for soul-searching within the Left. The case received nationwide attention, dealing a body blow to the image of the CPM and its professed tolerance for those who leave its ranks. Publicly, the party continually denies any involvement in such murders and goes on to expel those whose roles are vindicated.

“Chandrasekharan was a factional leader and it was a time when bickering was rife within the party. He took advantage of the factionalism to break the party. We have always been a party that strived for peace and stability. That’s why we took action against those who were involved in his murder,” a senior party leader said indicating that its top echelons had no part to play in the incident.

A poster of TP Chandrasekharan in Orkkatteri in Onchiyam announcing programmes on his death anniversary.

For the CPM in Kerala, its perceived inability to rein in its cadres, who get involved with criminal elements and pick up petty fights with workers of rival parties, has been a major cause for concern. Such fights incidentally turn into major brawls ending up as a catalyst for bloodshed between the parties. The CPM-RSS rivalry is a whole different ball game with decades of animosity between the two ideologically-opposite groups taking a bloody toll on both sides — 42 victims affiliated to BJP-RSS and 40 of those from the CPM since 1995. An investigation by the Indian Express had found that while senior leaders remain behind-the-scenes, young workers are mostly hired to do the dirty deed. That the number of murders go up exponentially especially when the CPM is in power is backed by facts: 30 cases during 1996-2001, 28 during 2006-11 and 11 since 2016.

CPM’s Kerala secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan in an exclusive interview responded to the charges. “…one party alone cannot solve this. There has to be consonance of opinion and CPM is ready to lead the initiative. We believe in politics, there is no space for attacks because we are the worst victims. Because, we are in control of the administration now. In politics, there have to be discussions on principles and no weapons can strengthen any form of politics. With the help of a weapon, no party can be eliminated as well,” he said. (Complete interview later this week)

Road to Pinarayi

The chilling effect of the political killings is perhaps best amplified on the road to Pinarayi, the hometown of the chief minister in the heart of Kannur district. On a recent afternoon, on every lamppost, electricity pole and sign board on this road, black-and-white posters of a young Congress worker stare back. The posters of SP Shuhaib, who was hacked to death on the night of February 11 allegedly by CPM workers, were cleverly planted by the Congress to remind the chief minister, when he comes home, of the ‘atrocities’ committed by his party. Shuhaib’s murder had followed a CPM rally in Edayannur where death threats were issued against him. In a voice message on WhatsApp sent to his friend, Shuhaib had voiced fears to his life adding that he felt constantly being followed by unknown people wherever he went.

A small village in Kannur district, Pinarayi is today known for giving the CPM in Kerala its tallest leader at the moment.

In the days that followed Shuhaib’s murder, the CPM once again attested to having no complicity in the incident even as five of its workers were arrested by the police. One of them, Akash Thillankery, was even seen in past videos issuing death threats to Sangh Parivar and Congress workers at CPM rallies. And yet the party stuck to its stand.

“As a party, we have never fostered violence. Strict instructions have been given to our cadre not to indulge in any kind of attack. Haven’t we thrown out those involved in the murder of Shuhaib?” asks Sasidharan K, CPM area secretary in Pinarayi.

Even as it refuses to acknowledge its role in the political murders, the CPM’s local leadership’s fingers are invariably pointed at the RSS who, they claim, wants to establish a ‘shakha’ in Parapram, the tiny village in Pinarayi where the Communist movement in the state formally took birth. The CPM alleges that in stepping up its organisation in Pinarayi, the Sangh Parivar is targeting the image of the chief minister and his development activities.

“On counting day in 2016, during our victory procession, our party member CV Raveendran lost his life when a bomb was hurled at him by the RSS at Kandimukku, which is the hub of their criminal elements. Then, our local committee member K Mohanan was hacked to death by the RSS at a toddy shop where he worked,” alleged Sasidharan, sitting inside the party office in Pinarayi. “It’s a calculated attempt to create an atmosphere of terror and divert the aim from development. BJP has never been an electoral force here so we are not worried.”

This is believed to be the spot where a bunch of leaders had gathered to formally announce the formation of the Communist party in Kerala in 1939.

A deep distrust of media

Barely two kilometres away, in Parapram, the CPM’s stranglehold over the area is undeniable. Prasanna, who runs a small corner store selling cigarettes and beedis, says the village and its people have a natural connect with the CPM which other parties will find hard to break.

“We only vote CPM here. There’s only one party. It’s always been like that,” said Prasanna, who worked for 25 years rolling beedis at a nearby ‘Dinesh Beedi’ factory before setting up the shop. While her husband was a long-time worker of the CPI, her son goes for CPM rallies. In fact, the CPM widely exerts influence over the electorate especially in Kannur through its numerous cooperatives and coir-beedi factories, known to employ party sympathisers.

Fifty yards away, on a public wall are hung banners with pictures of CPM martyrs killed in alleged RSS violence. As the afternoon sunlight bounces off on the banner, the words ‘We will never forget your martyrdom’ written in Malayalam shimmers. These banners, say party’s old-timers, have been hung to remind the people and especially the media that the Left is also a victim of the senseless violence. Here, deep within the hearts of party sympathisers lies a distrust of the media and its reportage.

A poster with photos of CPM martyrs in Parapram reads, “You can slice us into pieces or slash our chests. But our leader’s followers will chase you and come after you with burning torches in their hands.

“You counted how many injuries were there on Shuhaib’s body, but did you point out the number of injuries on a Marxist worker’s body? Why does the media show the party in poor light? They are running a campaign against us. That’s why we have been forced to put up these posters,” said Balan, a long-time party worker in his 60s, sitting with his comrades in front of a party-run library. “Despite the media’s sustained attempts to malign us, our organisation is strong and intact.”

“Njangale thagarkkan aavila (You cannot destroy us),” he added.

In Parappuram, where the CPM was born in Kerala, there’s a feeling that the media has been unkind to the party.

P Raghavan, a former branch secretary also in his 60s, differs from his friend’s perspective and admits that the recent spate of violence has dented the party’s image, but adds that he believes the leadership is working overtime to change it nevertheless. “Ksheenam undakkitundu, pakshe party nadapadi edukkunnile? (It has dented the party, but isn’t it taking action against those workers?) It is also resisting attacks from within,” he said.  

“This is a land where the Communist party was born so naturally it will fight for the people on every issue. Whatever you say, the party is our life and it will continue to be so,” he concluded before walking off.