For long, the Communist parties in Kerala have seldom seen a leader tower above the party structure. But times are changing. (Illustration by Vishnu PP)
For the Communist movement in Kerala, Vayalar holds a hallowed position. Nearly seven decades ago, here in this tiny village and in Punnapra, 30 kilometres away, in October, 1946 workers of mainly coir factories, emboldened by Communist dogma, turned against then-prime minister of Travancore Sir CP Ramaswamy Iyer over their rights and the region’s autonomy. While Iyer advocated an independent Travancore, the Communists saw this as a move to align with American and British interests. As peace talks failed, clashes erupted between workers armed with ‘varikuntham’ (spears fashioned out of stems of areca nut trees) and the army of Iyer, consisting of British and Travancore troops. Official figures are not available but rough estimates suggest a few hundred workers were mercilessly gunned down by Iyer’s troops, turning the paddy fields red. The violence dealt a blow to the workers’ strike, but also turned the public against his administration. A year later, Travancore ceded with the rest of India with Sir Iyer fleeing Kerala after an assassination attempt. For the Communist party, however, the revolt became a pivotal point in deepening its base among coir, beedi and agricultural workers, a large segment of voters who were disillusioned with the Congress’ proletariat pitch. Seven decades on, the faith of the working class in the Left remains undisturbed to a large extent in Vayalar.
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“Kerala is an educated society where people can think on their own. Workers know their rights and can demand their own pay. That’s why the Leftist ideology is strong here. In other states, worker rights are crushed by landlords who hold the reins there,” says Murali, who operates an auto-rickshaw in Vayalar. He remains a committed Left worker largely thanks to his father’s upbringing who was a ‘chethukaran’ (toddy tapper) who as a community plead allegiance to Marxist parties, says the man in his late 30s.
Five kilometres away, the lasting symbol of that violent uprising from decades ago — a worker holding a ‘varikuntham’ as if ready to strike – stands tall as the ‘rakthasakshi mandapam’ (martyr memorial) of the Communist party with names of those killed scribbled on its sides. Every year, on October 27, this tiny village comes alive as hundreds of Communist workers and leaders make their way to pay tributes to those killed in the uprising. “Kaalu kuthan sthalam kaanila annu. Oru ulsavam pole aanu’ (You won’t be able to place your foot here, it’s like a festival),” chimes Murali.
On a late April afternoon, the memorial and the huge compound in which it stood is nearly empty, save for 72-year-old NV Ramanan, a branch member of the party who temporarily looks after the tiny office adjoining the memorial. Ramanan, a long-time coir factory worker belonging to the backward Ezhava community, had joined the CPM in 1972, a period when the state was undergoing extensive land reforms under the leadership of the Left.
“Local police at that time were the ‘goondas’ of the landlords. But at the same time, the CPM was very powerful because it was not a party of landlords. People used to fear the party,” he recalls.
“Thozhilali vargathodula thalparyam undayirunnu (The party had an affinity towards the interests of labourers),” he adds.
Ramanan, 72, joined the party in his 20s and has seen several big Communist leaders pass in front of him. But he says he has never run after them, because for him, the party is supreme, not the leader.
But, down the ages, Ramanan rues that the dedication of the workers to the party and vice-versa has undergone a substantial shift. “In those days, there was a unique connection between the party and the worker. But that generation has gone. Today, such workers are hard to find. Humanitarian values are decreasing day-by-day,” he says.
Over the years, Ramanan has seen towering Communist leaders like EMS Namboodiripad, EK Nayanar and VS Achuthanandan pass in front of him when they visit Vayalar. But he cautions to add, “I don’t run after them like others because I don’t idolise a leader. My attachment is to the party, not to a leader. When we run after leaders, our connection with the party will tend to break.”
For long, the Communist parties, be it the CPI or the CPM, have never encouraged its leaders to grow bigger than the party. The order passed in the corridors of AKG Bhawan in Thiruvananthapuram was always plain and simple: the party is supreme, the leader is not, so don’t try to glorify oneself. But off-late, more precisely, since 2016 when the CPM-led LDF marched to power with a 91-seat brutal majority in the Assembly, the present chief minister and former long-time state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan has had an unshakeable iron grip on both the party and the government. On the day of his swearing-in, prominent Malayalam and English-language newspapers carried front-page ads with a beaming Vijayan, causing much chagrin within the party’s central leadership. For an organisation that proclaims to be austere, the ads produced consternation in the party’s ranks. At the same time, it did little to restrict Vijayan’s clout in the state.
‘You cannot govern by frightening people’
“I know Vijayan from 1975-76. He is a megalomaniac. That’s why he says things like ‘kadakku purathu’,” says KC Umesh Babu, a former member of the party and a founder leader of the Purogamana Kalasahitya Sangham (PUKASA), considered an influential body of Left-leaning thinkers. Babu was referring to the admonishment Vijayan meted out to a bunch of journalists before his scheduled meeting with RSS leaders last year. ‘Kadakku purathu’ in Malayalam means ‘get out’, often said in a rude manner.
“Who says things like that? In a multi-party democracy, you cannot govern by frightening people. He may be a great party leader but he cannot be a good chief minister. Since all megalomaniacs are self-destructive, they cannot be good administrators,” adds Babu, who was sacked from the party in 2007 for indirectly taking a swipe at the organisation through a poem published in a magazine.
“There’s no one to control Vijayan within the party just like Narendra Modi in the BJP,” he says.
Vijayan’s ascendancy within the party has always clashed with the popularity of his bete-noire and former chief minister VS Achuthanandan. In fact, so strong was the factionalism within the party at one point that it faced the threat of a vertical split with workers of both factions refusing to back down. But with the central leadership effectively sidelining VS, now 94, giving him the position of the chairman of the administrative reforms commission (the CPM’s informal margdarshak mandal), Vijayan is faced with no challenger.
For decades, the CPM was bitterly divided into two factions, one led by Pinarayi and the other by his rival, VS Achuthanandan (centre), now in his 90s.
Not the best start for Pinarayi Vijayan & Co
In the 2016 Assembly elections, the LDF had campaigned on an agenda of providing a clean and corruption-free administration, especially as it came on the back of then-incumbent Congress swirling in the fire of the solar scandal. Promising the people that ‘LDF varum, ellam sheriyavum’ (LDF will come, everything will be alright), strikingly similar to the BJP’s ‘acche din’ pledge, the CPM-led coalition campaigned hard using a slew of new-found election management techniques. There were no surprises as the alliance swept into power winning 91 out of 140 seats in the state.
But before it could rest easy, allegations of corruption and nepotism had started knocking on its doors. The first to go was EP Jayarajan, Vijayan’s closest confidante and Industries Minister, for appointing his own family members as heads of public sector undertakings. Before it could complete two years in office, two more ministers quit although one was later taken back into the cabinet. Vijayan, who also handles the heavyweight home ministry, has also been in the dock for the handling and behaviour of the police force which has been accused of various offences including use of third-degree torture techniques, its treatment of weaker sections like Dalits and transgenders and its collusion with ruling party members in several criminal cases.
“LDF should have taken collective responsibility for the murder of Sreejith. They should have gone to his house immediately and announced compensation for the family,” says NV Balakrishnan, a former area secretary in charge of Koyilandy. He was referring to the young man from Varapuzha who was arrested by the police as a case of mistaken identity and tortured in custody to eventually succumb to injuries.
“Why has the police been allowed to transform like this? Who allowed this? The police force is still seen here as authoritarian,” he says.
Balakrishnan, a former area secretary of the party, says he grew tired of battling within.
Balakrishnan, who belonged to the VS faction, was suspended for a year for penning an editorial against the party in a Gulf-based newspaper. Although he was taken back, he later distanced himself from the organisation after he ‘grew tired’ of battling within.
“When I was in the party, there would be discussions and platforms for debate, but eventually there would be no results because no one wanted to interfere and ruin their careers. Everyone knew nothing would happen,” he talks about the party’s internal democratic setup.
‘Party becoming an election-machine, shedding liberal character’
A key plank of the CPM when it justifies not allying with the Congress in Kerala has been its stated opposition to the latter’s neo-liberal policies. In fact, at every state conference and party congress, it harps aloud its inconvenience with such policies that don’t gel well with its Marxist outlook. However, in several interviews, former party members say the CPM has long relinquished its liberal character in an attempt to win elections and capture vote-banks.
“Mulyadhistithamaya rashtreeyam ippo illa (There is no value-based politics within the CPM),” PP Mohanan, a long-time local committee member in Kannur district, tells indianexpress.com.
Now detached from the party, he adds, “The fact that corruption and nepotism exists within the party is because it has strayed from Communist principles. There are no efforts to organise people at the grassroot level. Outside, you may see processions and big rallies, but inside, it’s hollow.”
The pantheon of CPM leadership from AK Gopalan to EMS Namboodiripad to EK Nayanar. Picture inside the Vayalar party office.
MM Somasekharan, former central executive member of the CPI(ML), goes even further to say that “except for the name of the party and the terminology they use, there is no Communism within the CPM anymore”. “What you are seeing in Kerala is a continuation of the degradation of Communist principles across the world as it moves further towards capitalism.”
“Post 1947, there has been no national-level movement in India. Congress left aside the process to re-build India after it got involved in power politics. They are facing its effects now. CPM has also abandoned its policies in its pursuit for votes,” he says.
The recent events in Keezhattur, where even sympathisers of the party turned against the government when the latter nodded to reclamation of paddy land for widening of a highway, are indicative of the party’s deviation from its core principles, says Umesh Babu.
“Vijayan’s policies are neo-liberal, they are not even classical liberal. And neo-liberal societies are formed through plundering the poor and making money for the rich. Just look at Nirav Modi’s case. It is a case of social plundering. Vijayan is supporting forced evictions and therefore is an agent of social plundering,” says Babu.
“CPM today is a careerist, middle-class party which has lost its liberal character. It’s only agenda is to win,” he adds.