Kerala’s political atmosphere is now noisy due to the allegations being levelled by several digital media, BJP and Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) against Chintha Jerome, DYFI leader, CPM State committee member and Kerala State Youth Commission Chairperson. Several allegations have come up against her, all blatant and serious.
The latest concerns are her alleged stay in a controversial four-star Ayurvedic resort. Reports suggest she has been living with her mother in a 3 BHK apartment for the last couple of years.
As usual, Jerome wields a readymade excuse: Her mom is ill; hence her house undergoes repairs to ensure facilities for her (mom). Mom undergoes Ayurvedic treatment, so this apartment is convenient! Random enquiries with the resort concluded that the daily rent for such an apartment is Rs 8,490 per day. But Jerome claims she has been paying Rs 20,000 per month! This is a mysterious situation. A vast difference between Rs 8,490 per day and Rs 20,000 per month.
Youth congress state secretary Vishnu Sunil Pandalam alleged that she paid Rs 38 lakh as bill. How did she get so much money? All these things including her financial source should be examined. Pointing all these, Vishnu Sunil Pandalam has filed a complaint with the vigilance and enforcement directorate.
For the argument’s sake, if one admits that Rs 20,000 was paid by Jerome (and her mother) per month, then there are several one billion-dollar questions: Did the resort give Jerome a tremendous discount? If so, why? Did the resort get the balance payment from some other source? If so, who did pick up the tab? CPM? State Government? Or someone else? If a discount was granted, what is the reason behind it? Any quid pro quo?
The questions mentioned above are quite natural since the resort is in the eye of a storm. There are allegations against this resort concerning the violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ), the rule established to protect the coasts and the ecosystem.
Since State Youth Commission is a quasi-judicial institution, Chairperson’s stay in a resort, which has allegedly violated CRZ, raises many eyebrows.
People of Kerala and the media show much interest in Jerome’s matter as she is always in a row or other. For the last couple of weeks, she has been in the news concerning the PhD she got from Kerala University. The prima facie allegation from the knowledgeable sources was that her thesis, ‘The ideological foundation of Malayalam commercial cinema in neoliberal times’ was not at all a significant topic. Critics alleged that the thesis contained spelling mistakes. But, the ‘tragedy’ of the thesis was attaching the wrong name of the poet to a famous and popular poem which even Communist movements in Kerala used for their proletarian propaganda more than six decades ago. It stirred a hornet’s nest in the State in the general and academic fields. Then she came back with a usual excuse that ‘to err is human’ and people with vested interests make a mountain out of a molehill. She “thanked those who pointed out the error”. The right poet’s daughter demanded the cancellation of Jerome’s doctorate. Then it was the time of comedy. She went to see her (the daughter of the poet who penned the poem) at Kochi and apologised!
Then came the allegation of plagiarism. Academicians pointed out that Jerome had copied the erroneous part from an essay for her PhD thesis, which was published by someone else in 2010. Again, pat came for her justification: “It is not plagiarism, but accepting good ideas from other sources”. And this statement invited a flood of trolls on social media.
Recently, the Save University Campaign Committee released a passage from the dissertation of Jerome containing the statement about the wrongly quoted poem. It is said to have a dozen typographical and grammatical errors in a single paragraph. And even the word ‘communist’ is incorrectly spelt.
Significantly, PP Ajayakumar, Pro-VC of Kerala University, was Jerome’s guide! He reportedly reacted that he could not remember the controversial error. Now, the University has asked the PVC to submit his explanation in the matter. An expert committee is likely to be appointed to examine the thesis when the VC returns on February 8. Interestingly, there is no provision for correcting the thesis or withdrawing the doctorate.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan has asked the VC to submit an explanation. He has forwarded to VC all complaints he received from various sources. The Registrar of the University says preliminary data collection has been started in the absence of the VC.
As usual, CPM leaders have come forward with camaraderie with the ‘comrade’. They keep on stating that some people are trying to spoil the social and political life of a young woman comrade. But, academicians are not ready to swallow it without a pinch of salt. They say there are some other ‘comrades’ who flaunt doctorates. They say these ‘doctors’ have not complied with the norms required for completing the research and submitting the thesis.
Another controversy surrounding Jerome was about her salary. It is reported that she has been drawing Rs 50,000 since she took over as the Youth Commission Chairperson in October 2016. A few weeks before, mainstream media said that her salary was going to be hiked to Rs 100,000 as per her demand for a hike with a retrospective effect. She repudiated the news. She said she had not demanded it.
The Kerala Government, in its order of January 23, 2023, decided to pay Jerome the salary arrears. This same order exposed Jerome’s claim that she had not asked for a salary hike. Sports and Youth Affairs Principal Secretary M Sivasankar IAS had referred to Jerome’s letter, addressed to the Sport and Youth Affairs Department, requesting the salary arrears for nearly 17 months in his order.
This is the ‘comrade culture’ in Kerala. As this journal has pointed out in the past regarding illegal appointments in the universities, especially those for the wives of CPM leaders, several humiliations those ‘candidates’ and Kerala Government suffer in the High Court, corruption and anti-Constitutional actions, a lot of similar incidents are coming up in the State under the regime of CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) with CPM Polit Bureau member and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the helm.
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