Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee may be undecided about his political career in the post-CPI(M) phase. But what some ex-CPI(M) cadres, who share a similar plight, are doing in Kerala may be of some interest to him.The Kerala CPI(M), which takes credit for initiating the decentralisation process in the state, is itself undergoing a decentralisation — albeit of a different variety. The rebel comrades are launching their own parallel outfits without compromising on the basic political line of the CPI(M).The first such attempt was that of the Thalikulam CPM, a party formed by the CPI(M) members in Thalikulam in Thrissur district in 2003 after they rebelled against the party leadership’s decision to dismiss the local committee. Led by former local committee secretary P L Santhosh, the outfit is now leading a mass movement in the area and is also in power in Thalikulam and four other neighbouring panchayats.Taking a cue from the Thalikulam model, dissident party workers have formed parallel outfits in other places as well , though with different success rates. Earlier, this process was restricted to the southern districts of the state, but now it is also spreading to the Malabar region — the heartland of the Communist movement in Kerala. For instance, there was a vertical split in the party after M R Murali was asked to quit as vice-chairperson of Shornur Municipality in Palakkad district.The latest is the launch of Marxist Party in Onchiyam in Vadakara district, last Sunday. As is the case everywhere, the parallel unit has been formed by leaders expelled by the CPI(M) for “anti-party” activities.Though immediate reasons for all these expulsions were different, all of them, incidentally, have a strong connection with the once rampant groupism within the state unit that is refusing to die despite several attempts by the party’s central leadership to curb it. It is not a mere coincidence that all the expelled leaders were one-time close associates of Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan. Interestingly, the rebels still swear by the party’s name, despite differences with the current leadership.“Party is much bigger than any individual leader. Just because the present leadership of the CPI(M) has expelled us, we cannot forego our convictions,” said one of the expelled leaders.The rebel groups make it a point to follow every diktat issued by the party leadership and also insist that they will organise all functions as per the directives from the leadership, just like any other party organ. Moreover, they have decided to popularise Desabhimani, the CPI(M)’s mouthpiece in Kerala.Explaining the rationale behind these decisions, leaders of the Onchiyam Marxist Party, T P Chandrasekharan, B Ramesh and P R Ramachandran, say that they are doing this because their attempt is to “bring the party back on right track”.“We are not rebels without a cause. We are safety valves who want to save the party from destruction,” said Ramachandran.A forum of all such movements is the next agenda of the parallel groups. Strengthening the Communist Campaign Committee (CCC), formed significantly on the last AKG Day, seems to be the first step towards achieving that goal. The leaders of the CCC are in touch with other outfits like the CPI(ML) to broaden their platform.Though all these splinter groups have desisted offers from anti-Left parties to join hands with them, the fact that thousands — most of them party card holders — are openly rallying around the rebels, has shocked the state leadership of the CPI(M).What is significant about the development is the fact that the CPI(M), which is known for never taking rebellion lying down, is adopting a more mellow approach towards the party card holders who are openly moving around with excommunicated leaders.The rebel leaders feel that the party card holders have become more open and democratic “though the party as a whole is still lagging behind in these terms”.“Earlier, if a party cadre was seen talking to an ousted cadre, he had to do a lot of explaining. But not any more. We maintain good relations with our former colleagues and official comrades are not scared to be seen with us in public,” said Ramachandran who was also expelled for “anti-party activities”.These rebel leaders hope that they would make the CPI(M) leadership realise that there should be some space for defiance within the party — a space that would include someone like Somnath Chatterjee.
