Jurassic Park of Indian Politics
Intro: Kerala is on its way to become the Jurassic Park of Indian politics. It is the last place where the dinosaurs who once dreamt of ruling the Earth can still be seen in their natural habitat.
Kerala is the only state that elects twenty or more Lok Sabha MPs. It is the state where the Congress emerged as the single largest party and where a Congress-led coalition won the majority of the seats in the past General Elections. The state that sent the largest number of Communist Party of India (Marxist) nominees to the Lok Sabha and enabled the CPI (M)-led Left Front to reach double figures. And, the only state where a candidate from the CPI (M) and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) might expect to win a seat.
The Congress has 8 Lok Sabha MPs from Kerala, just one fewer than the 9 elected from Karnataka, which has total 28 Lok Sabha constituencies to Kerala's 20. As mentioned above, Kerala is now the only state in India where parties such as the RSP might reasonably hope to win seats. But N K Premachandran's victory in Kollam district— making him the RSP’s sole representative in the 16th Lok Sabha — did not come at the expense of the Congress. The man he defeated to second place by 37,649 votes was none other than the CPI (M)'s candidate, MA Baby in continuation with an offer to resign from the Assembly.
Kollam has been a stronghold of the RSP since the first General Election, when — then called Quilon and Mavelikara in the erstwhile state of Travancore-Cochin — it was won by the RSP’s N Sreekantan Nair.
In 1999 the CPI (M), the Tyrannosaurus rex of this Jurassic Park, bullied the RSP into surrendering the seat. When the CPI (M) refused, the RSP walked out of the Left Democratic Front (LDF), joining the United Democratic Front (UDF), which is led by the Congress.
First, it is an open question whether the voters of Kundara were questioning MA Baby's credentials or those of the CPI (M), which sponsored him. The Left Front in general — particularly the CPI (M) — has fallen apart over the past decade. When Prakash Karat became the CPI(M) general secretary, the Left Front had 60 seats in the Lok Sabha, with the CPI (M) having 43 on its own. Today, the CPI (M) has 9 MPs, and the Left Front as a whole has 12.
Kollam's voters would have seen how Mamata Banerjee had destroyed the Red Fortress in West Bengal in 2011. They would have seen the RSP was emboldened enough to challenge the 'Big Brother' of the Left in Kerala.
MA Baby might want to accept responsibility for the defeat in the Kundara Assembly segment and for Kollam in general. Who is responsible for the general debacle that is the fate of the Left across all its old strongholds? Did the CPI (M) lose the contest in Kollam because of MA Baby's individual failing, or was it just symptomatic of the decline of the Left?
Third, some Marxist supporters might claim that there is an element of political ethics in MA Baby's offer of resignation. Morality cannot be decided through a majority vote. Did MA Baby protest, for instance, against the unprintable words used by Pinarayi Vijayan, the CPI(M) boss in Kerala?
Also, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi offered their resignations to the Congress Working Committee; it was refused. Tarun Gogoi, the chief minister of Assam, offered his resignation to the Sonia Gandhi; she turned it down. Nitish Kumar offered his resignation to his party; it was accepted but the outgoing chief minister of Bihar was empowered to pick a loyalist as his successor.
If MA Baby wanted to resign from the legislature he would have sent his resignation letter to the Speaker. If he wanted to resign from the Politburo he would have informed the party's general secretary. Sending the offer to resign from the Assembly to the party reveals a confusion of thought. Caught between his conscience and his loyalty to the party — the same dilemma that bedevils AK Antony — he chose his party. The CPI (M) refused his offer. How could it do otherwise? Acceptance would have raised uncomfortable questions about the parts played by Prakash Karat and Pinarayi Vijayan.
So here is some unsolicited advice: Resign. Or do not resign. But do not test the public's patience by offering to resign.
-TVR Shenoy (The writer is a senior columnist)
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