The rosy stories of the ‘Kerala Model’ of development created the impression in other parts of the country that everything was fine in the State
P Sandeep
This year Kerala is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its formation. The first elected Communist government in the world in Kerala 50 years ago, led by EMS Namboodiripad as its Chief Minister, was dismissed by the then Nehru-led Union Government on the ground of chaotic law and order situation in the state. Since then whenever they were voted into power in the state, failure in tackling law and order situation has been a common character.
The state-sponsored violence unleashed by communist cadres is a common phenomenon under CPM. People living in the other parts of the country always had the rosy picture of ‘God’s own country’ and the so-called ‘Kerala Model’. However, the real situation is different. Due to violence practised by the Communist trade-unions economy of Kerala lost its steam and its young generation was forced to migrate for jobs, creating a money order economy. Even Communist leaders beeline to Gulf countries for harnessing support. It doesn’t mean that the communist party has become poor; it remains as one of the richest conglomerations in the state. Unfortunately, the so-called liberal media and intellectuals always provided with a cover to these facts with their cooked theories.
In fact, inability of their ideology to deliver and its destructive attitude, Communist cadres slowly started deserting to other organisations, especially the RSS. In the 1960’s, CPOM resorted to brutal violence to keep their cadre intact. Though almost all democratic organisations had become the target of Communist violence in Kerala, their main victims were RSS and other nationalist organisations. They lost more than 250 of their cadres in this inhuman violence, and thousands bore the brunt of physical attacks. When the Communist agents in the mainstream media cooked stories to such heinous crimes of their masters, majority of the independent media persons resorted to a passive approach or blamed both sides for violence. This increased the confidence of communist goons.
It seems that now the tide is turning against communists. Free flow of information through internet and social media flattens the information world and effectively curtails the monopoly of print and visual media on information. It has also reduced the ability of left-lenient journalists to twist the facts according to their will. People living beyond the borders of Western Ghats now have real-time access to information about Communist atrocities in Kerala. When the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP), leader and former functionary of CPM got killed by its mercenaries in 2012, a section of mainstream media also started exposing the Communist atrocities. The CPM vehemently rejected its involvement in the killing but the court proceeding and media reports exposed its lies beyond doubts. Further, list of 12 persons convicted in this case including its leaders and mercenaries. The growth and expansion of nationalist organisations like RSS, BJP, ABVP etc. also accelerated the decline of communism and their grip in Kerala. This wave of cadre loss and the growing popularity of BJP leaders created a panic in the CPM camp. In contrast, the popularity of CPM leaders in Kerala is dwindling.
Fearing a backlash, CPM used the popularity of former Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan for electoral gains but after the election, it sidelined him and made Pinarayi Vijayan, a hardliner, the Chief Minister. The image of Vijayan in Kerala is nothing but of an anti-hero, who often used provocative language to attack opponents. As his image suggests within ten months of his reign as Chief Minister, a wave of political killings rose in Kerala in which nationalist organisations lost 11 of their workers including a woman and many others suffered physical and mental trauma. The loss of homes and belongings for many make the situation further critical. The instigation of cadre into violence, unpopularity of leaders, inability to control law and order situation etc. has further weakened CPM’s position in Kerala. Unfortunately, instead of realising this fact and rectifying it, they are continuing with the act of intolerant killings.
(The writer is a Delhi based social activist)
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