Very Stalinist

For argument8217;s sake let us make the assumption 8212; probably a wrong one 8212; that the Kerala chief minister was right in accusing the Tatas of a wholesale land grab. Even then V.S. Achuthanandan8217;s method raises serious doubts about his temperament. CMs can, of course, court publicity, take part in stunts the media will fall for 8212; this is fairly normal practice. But CMs must also know where to draw the line. That line was crossed by a wide margin when VS, as reported in this newspaper, personally replaced Tata signboards in Munnar with those heralding government ownership of land. This is a CM who is saying he8217;s at the frontline of what he would like to become a class war. Ergo, this is not a CM whose administrative style sits very well with the complex demands of the job.

Second, VS more or less threatening Tatas that their moving courts on the Munnar land issue would invite severe retaliatory action comes close to a head of government questioning the rights of citizens. Everyone has a right to seek legal intervention, and CMs, who swear by the Constitution, can8217;t threaten punitive action if that right is exercised.

The CM is free in this free country to hold dear a version of Marxist politics that would seem dangerously quaint to even most sensible Marxists. But he is not free to implement that politics in a manner that makes the office of a CM look no better than the headquarters of an agitpropist group. Perhaps those of his fellow Kerala communists who oppose his style and substance are not in a position to confront him. But what about the CPM brass? The party leadership suspended VS from the Politburo. If action can be taken for party indiscipline, why can8217;t it be taken for serious administrative impropriety? Are we to understand that Prakash Karat endorses VS8217;s thesis that moving courts against the Kerala CM8217;s decision is almost a crime? If VS does everything that he has promised to over the Munnar land issue, will the CPM leadership8217;s silence blast open a broad enough escape route for the party? Or will the CPM8217;s national credibility suffer deeply from manic Marxism in action?