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Journalism of Courage
During the last seven years of the CPI(M)-led LDF government in Kerala, headed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the students’ wing of the CPI(M), has been embroiled in multiple controversies involving a slew of its leaders and cadres.
A former SFI leader K Vidya has been absconding for over a week after the police filed multiple cases against her for allegedly forging an experience certificate from the government-run Maharaja’s College in Ernakulam in order to apply for the post of a lecturer. An alumnus of this college, Vidya, had allegedly worked in various government colleges in Kerala with the forged certificate, which came to light last week. Her admission for the PhD programme at the state’s Sanskrit University, allegedly after tweaking norms at the behest of some leaders, has also been under the scanner of a university panel.
The SFI has now also made news after its state secretary P M Arsho was shown as passed in a semester exam at Maharaja’s College, even though he said he did not take this exam.
The principal Opposition Congress and its students’ wing, Kerala Students Union (KSU), have charged that these cases highlighted “blatant misuse of power” by the SFI on the watch of the CPI(M)-led regime.
Senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition (LoP), V D Satheesan, alleged that the CPI(M) leaders were involved in Vidya’s forged certificate case.“Some of the prominent CPI(M) leaders had called up the university authorities to help her (Vidya) to get the forged certificate. If the anomaly in the result was not brought out, Arsho would have remained passed in the exam,’’ he said.
Last month, another scandal erupted over an SFI leader A Visakh’s alleged involvement in an impersonation case at Christian College in Thiruvananthapuram’s Kattakkada. Visakh’s name appeared in the list of the college students’ union election for the post of the university union councillor (UUC), which was won by a female student Anagha. It was alleged that the SFI wanted to bring Visakh to the organisation’s university union leadership.Visakh has been booked on charges of forgery and impersonation by the police. Embarrassed by the scandal, the SFI has expelled him from the organisation.
On Wednesday, while considering Visakh’s anticipatory bail application, the Kerala high court observed that the allegation against him is serious. Posting his anticipatory bail plea to June 20, the court observed that the college principal might have sent the doctored list to the university at the behest of the SFI leader. On Thursday, a sessions court rejected the anticipatory bail plea of college principal G J Shaiju, who is also listed as an accused in the case.
These rows involving the SFI leaders have not been limited to the college campuses. In 2019, a police probe into the campus violence at University College in Thiruvananthapuram revealed that the alleged accused, two SFI leaders R Sivaranjith and A N Nazeem, had figured on top of the list for police constables’ post, for which exams were conducted by the state recruiting agency Public Service Commission. Later it was revealed that the duo had allegedly indulged in malpractices with the help of other SFI workers to clear the exam in 2018. Using smart watches, they shared the question papers live from the exam hall with outsiders, and got the answers instantly.
While the CPI(M) leadership distanced itself from the Vidya fake certificate case, the party has thrown its weight behind SFI leader Arsho, who has also been embroiled in several criminal cases.
“There is a conspiracy behind the marks list related to Arsho. A thorough probe is required to expose the conspiracy. It should not be linked with the fake certificate case. There would not be any move from the party to protect Vidya, who is involved in the certificate controversy. Let police probe into it,’’ CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan told media persons in Kannur.
Poet and former leader of the CPI(M)-affiliated Progressive Arts & Literary Organisation (Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangam) K C Umesh Babu said the SFI has control over virtually all the college campuses in Kerala, barring a few colleges. “As there is no opposition, democracy has ceased to exist on campuses. What we see in the recent scandals involving SFI is a progression of gangsterism. This trend has been there for quite some time, but the second consecutive win of CPI(M) in Kerala in the 2021 elections gave the SFI an extra confidence to do anything they want,” said Umesh Babu.
Training its guns on the SFI, the RSS’s students wing ABVP said that in the campuses the former gets tacit support of the teachers’ unions affiliated to the CPI(M) across the state.
The ABVP’s state president Arun Kadappal said: “Most of the teachers in Kerala campuses are Left-oriented. Hence, these teachers also stand with the SFI to further their political interest. Even if active SFI workers do not have required attendance to sit for an exam, they do not face any hindrance in the course due to this nexus between teachers and students. One has to be with SFI if he or she wants to complete a course without required attendance,’’ he said.
Some observers however also point out that the SFI’s long history has been marked with its struggles for the rights of the students community.
