One battle won, a Kerala MLA to continue war for justice for husband against ruling CPI(M)

A rebel CPI(M) group, the RMPI was formed by Chandrasekharan with the merger of splinter Communist groups from Kerala and Punjab.

An intra-CPI(M) rivalry, and a murder

Chandrasekharan and Rama started off with the CPI(M)’s youth wings, the SFI and DYFI. While Rama became the SFI vice-president in 1992, and Chandrasekharan its state joint secretary, later she did not pursue a full-time political career though her husband did.

In 2008, the couple were thrust into the violent politics of the CPI(M) in Kozhikode district, when the party high command directed that the Eramala village panchayat president post be left for the party’s then ally, Janata Dal (S). The local cadre, including Chandrasekharan, opposed the decision, and he went on to form the RMPI soon after.

Over the years, while other such grassroot groups in Kerala against the CPI(M) petered away, the RMPI managed to remain afloat, even if only in certain village panchayats falling under the Vadakara constituency.

In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Chandrasekharan contested as an RMPI candidate and secured 21,000 votes, splitting the Left votes and leading to the defeat of the CPI(M) in a seat that had been with it since 1989. After this, Chandrasekharan’s base began to grow.

Three years later, on May 4, 2012, Chandrasekharan was hit by a car while riding a two-wheeler in Vallikkad. When he fell to the ground, a group of assailants, allegedly CPI(M) workers, got out of the car and hacked him to death. Chandrasekharan’s body bore 51 wounds.

Rama then stepped into politics and took over the reins of the fledgling party, helped by the huge sympathy wave over Chandrasekharan’s murder and against political violence.

In the 2016 Assembly elections, Rama contested as an RMPI candidate, but lost, getting 15.82% of the votes. In 2021, she contested again, with the backing of the Congress-led UDF and emerged the winner, defeating Left candidate Manayath Chandran. All through the campaign, Rama said “her electoral fight was against the fascism of Vijayan”.

Rama’s victory was a personal defeat for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who campaigned for the CPI(M) in the seat twice — no other constituency saw him drop in more than once. The win also came amidst a CPI(M) sweep in the state, winning 99 out of 140 seats.

Rama would go on to talk of her husband’s murder in the Assembly. In August 2022, during Question Hour, she spoke about how the convicts in her husband’s case had got long paroles. Soon after, she claimed to have got an anonymous letter threatening her “with dire consequences if she continued to criticise Vijayan in the Assembly debates”.

Reacting to the verdict quashing the acquittal of two of the accused, Rama said she would go to the Supreme Court to ensure that the acquittal of CPI(M) Kozhikode district secretary P Mohanan, one of the alleged accused, was also reversed.

“The High Court verdict has ratified our stand that the CPI(M) was behind the killing of Chandrasekharan. However, the real conspirators are still out. Party workers in two districts of Kannur and Kozhikode are involved in the crime. That would have taken place only with the knowledge of senior leaders. I will push for a CBI probe, ’’ she said.

Calling it a “big challenge for a small party like the RMPI to take on the CPI(M)”, she added: “It has been 15 years since the party was formed. We could retain our cadres and supporters throughout these years, and now we rule three village panchayats in Vadakara. Our workers have been facing threats from the CPI(M), but Chandrasekharan is still the RMPI’s binding force.”