Newsmaker | Meet new Kerala CPM chief MV Govindan: Ideologue, Pinarayi’s number 2

By choosing Govindan, the CPI(M) has stuck to the three-decade-old tradition of choosing its state secretary from Kannur. Since 1992, all CPI(M) state secretaries have been from the party citadel. The appointment means that the CPI(M) bypassed Politburo members M A Baby and A Vijayaraghavan.

Govindan is referred to as “Master” because he was once a physical education teacher. In Kannur, Govindan headed a “red volunteer” force for several years before he quit the playground to embrace full-time politics. He, however, remains a teacher for the CPI(M) cadre and teaches Marxism in party classrooms. At present, he is in charge of the EMS Academy, a study and research centre in Thiruvananthapuram that the CPI(M) state committee established for its cadre in 2001.

Last year, Govindan’s interpretation of the Marxist theory of dialectical materialism triggered a debate. The CPI(M) leader said dialectical materialism was not practical in India as the mindset of a majority of people was still feudalistic and society was not even ready to accept materialism.

Govindan is known for his crisis management skills. In 2012, he was tasked with heading the CPI(M) Ernakulam district committee when it got embroiled in factionalism and scandals.

Rise up the ranks

The new Kerala state secretary was born in the village of Morazha in Kannur, which has been a site of the agrarian movement in north Kerala and the fight against British imperialism in the 1940s.

Govindan joined the Communist movement through Balasangam, the party wing for children, and became a district leader of the Kerala State Youth Federation, which was rebranded in 1980 at the national level as the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the CPI(M)’s youth wing. He was one of the members of the preparatory committee of the DYFI and later became the first state president of that youth outfit.

Govindan rose up the CPI(M)’s ranks, working in various roles in party classrooms, media, and the peasant movement. In 1982, he became the CPI(M)’s taluk secretary in Kasaragod, which was then part of Kannur district. In 2002, he became the party’s district secretary, a post he held for six years. Govindan, who has also served as the chief editor of the party’s mouthpiece Deshabhimani, became a member of the CPI(M) central committee in 2018.

Govindan has also been actively involved in organising farm workers and fighting for their rights. At present, he serves as the state president of the party’s farm workers union, the Kerala State Karshaka Thozhilali Union.