Make Left affiliated employees permanent, reaffirm Left character of the institution: Kerala Film Academy chairman’s letter to state govt triggers massive controversy

The recent request from the Chairman of Kerala State Chalachithra Academy to give permanent employment to four employees currently on contract period has triggered massive controversy. A letter sent by Kamal (Chairman KSCA) to Kerala minister for culture, A.K Balan dated 17th August 2020 has come out on public domain. In the letter, Kamal alias Kamaluddin Muhammad has requested the ministry to make Shaji Hamsa (Deputy Director- Festival), Rijoy K.J (Program Manager- Festival), N.P Sajeesh (Deputy Director- programs), Vimal Kumar V.P (Program Manager- programs) permanent staffs at the academy.

Kamal, in the letter, has stated that these four are affiliated to the left and hence they are eligible to be given employment at the academy. Giving them a permanent job is to reaffirm the left character of the academy, wrote Kamal. Janmabhumi daily has reported that these four people are also Islamist sympathisers and their social media handles are full of anti-Modi posts. This has made them Kamal’s favourites. Kamal has been lobbying for their permanent employment from the past few months.

“This is a classic example of nepotism. The Kerala State Chalachithra Academy is a publicly funded body and is definitely not funded by CPIM or AKG Centre. It is immature to say from the part of the Chairman of KSCA that in an academy aided by the state government, the appointments should be made to promote Marxism,” Kerala State BJP leader Sandeep Vachaspati told Organiser. “People of Kerala should take this seriously,” warned Sandeep. “Kamal is not just a film director. He has always taken a left-leaning political position on various issues. Kamal has done this to keep his masters happy,” he added.

“Kamal wanted to give these people permanent employment to increase the left’s hold over Malayalam film industry. In that case, why should any person affiliated to BJP, Congress or any other political party should pay tax to run this academy?” questioned Sandeep.