Comrade vs former comrade: Red feud plays out in a high-stakes Kerala battle

Some allege it was the veteran leader’s backhanded tactic to slander the Left cadre; others counter by saying it was the BJP’s mischief. But the crisp air in Ambalapuzha, an idyllic town in the lower Kuttanad region of Alappuzha district, where elections have historically been peaceful, has become tense with a high-stakes bout of intrigue and drama.

An old poster was at the heart of the election heat in the previous Assembly polls, too. In 2021, posters slinging mud at Salam appeared across the constituency, triggering a controversy. Some alleged it was the design of the distraught Sudhakaran who was denied the opportunity to defend his seat for the third time from Ambalapuzha. Salam won, but during the party’s inquiry, it emerged that the former minister did have a hand. Sudhakaran was demoted to the branch committee level in 2022, and a year later, he refused to renew the party membership he had held for 63 years.

Even staunch party workers respect him, but condemn his move to parley with the UDF. P V Ramesh, a grassroots worker who runs a stationery shop nearby says he has stopped calling Sudhakaran “sakhavu (comrade)” after he defected last year, alleging “systematic sidelining” and “the rotting of Communist ideals”. “I respect him for what he has done for the party, we shake hands and smile, but I lost my love for him. He should not have contested for the UDF, whom he used to call class enemies,” he says.

Allegations of ‘betrayal’ 

“Betrayal” is the word most staunch leftists of the state use to denote the 79-year-old. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called Sudhakaran a “class traitor”. At a gathering he addressed here on Wednesday, the CM warned: “He will fall into the mud of history.” Sudhakaran did not hold back, as is his wont. “I am on firm footing. I can stand firm on the mud of Kuttanad,” he retorted. The verbal punches and counterpunches have heightened the election drama.

The constituency houses one of the most sentimental memorials for the Left party, the Punnapra Vayalar memorial, erected for the eponymous uprising against C P Ramaswamy Iyer, the Diwan of Travancore. Party luminaries have held the seat here, from former Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan to P K Chandranandan and Suseela Gopalan. But in the recent local body contest, the UDF won 13 of the 24 wards in Alappuzha Municipality, which falls in Ambalapuzha. The UDF also wrestled back the Punnapra South Panchayat, where the memorial sits.

But the tides, even some of the Congress workers agree, have slightly shifted. Says S Damodaran, a self-confessed neutral working for Sudhakaran. “After Sudhakaran quit the party, the CPI(M), with the election in mind, has worked really hard to put things back on track. They have been aggressive in the campaigning and have been laying the groundwork even before the election dates were announced. Salam is a popular figure, too,” he says.

The paths they traversed are different. Sudhakaran, born in an agrarian family, became a firebrand Communist after his elder brother was murdered, allegedly by members of the opposing student union in 1977. He was only 16 when he became a party member and staged numerous protests when he was in college. He served time in prison during the Emergency and always maintained a deep connection with the grassroots. “He was a man of the masses, always walking with a smile and approachable,” states Raghava Kurup, a septuagenarian, who remembers Sudhakaran’s stormy days in student politics.

Salam, 53, is a no-nonsense leader who progressed through the SFI and DYFI (CPM’s youth wing) ranks. His words are measured, his speeches are without jargon. If developing a personal bond was the only flaw some pundits had pointed out, he has been diligently performing a makeover. “He has visited almost every house in the constituency, irrespective of allegiances. His simplicity appeals to people,” says Ramesh.

Whether it translates to votes sufficient enough to defend the turf is uncertain. Sudhakaran hopes that his interpersonal relationship with the voters, forged over six decades, would give him the decisive edge. But his belief that the “true Communists” in the party will vote for him is equally misplaced. It may get neutered by those in the Congress disgruntled that he has snatched the opportunity of one of them. “How can you suddenly work for someone who has been your rival for decades? There are unhappy people in the Congress,” says a Congress worker on condition of anonymity. Throw in caste equations, the votes the BJP will apportion and fringe parties such as the SUCI (C) eat up, the comrade versus former comrade — who insists “he is more Communist than any Communist” — contest could be close and spicy. And mind the posters.