Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Once again,the redoubtable chief minister of Kerala has walked his own path,no matter how much his party zigzags around its stated principles. The CPM is unembarrassedly wooing Peoples Democratic Party leader Abdul Nasser Madani,accused and acquitted over the Coimbatore blasts,but also suspected of links with the Lashkar and Indian Mujahideen; Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has waved away the fire-breathing clerics uncomfortable past,saying there was no need for further investigation and that the charges were history. In their eagerness to consolidate Muslim votes,CPM politicians like Pinarayi Vijayan have even hailed him as an exemplary Muslim. VS differed,reiterating his commitment to a thorough investigation.
While this reveals the divisions within the Kerala CPM,it cannot be denied that on many recent occasions he has come out on the correct side of the CPMs copybook. Earlier,he stuck up for institutional processes,the courts and CBI when his biggest political enemy in the party,Pinarayi Vijayan,was put on the spot over a huge hydropower project with the Canadian firm SNC Lavalin despite the CPMs head-in-the-sand morality on the issue. When Vijayan and his comrades once suggested tying up with long-time Congress leader K. Karunakarans breakaway faction,VS held the party back from this insupportable position. And despite his hardline image,VS has displayed intellectual flexibility; initially calling an IT park a cover for grabbing prime land,he later crusaded for open-source computing.
