Janam Malayalam TV has telecast the audio message of a CPM Branch Secretary, Arun Mathew, threatening an illegal sand miner for extorting Rs 15,000 towards the expenses of Janakiya Prathirodha Yatra from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram.
CPM state Secretary M V Govindan has been leading for the last one week. The report is from Pathanamthitta. Mathew is the Pulimukku Branch Secretary of CPM. Sand miner mines river sand, which is precious as ‘gold’.
According to the voice message, when the sand miner agrees to part with Rs 3,000, the leader does not acquiesce. He stuck to his gun, that is, Rs 15,000. Otherwise, his illegal sand mining would be informed to the police, and he would be pushed into hot soup. If he ‘donates’ Rs 15,000, he can continue his sand mining to any extent he likes because “it does not belong to anybody’s family”.
The voice message contains the sand miner’s argument that he gets Rs 4,000 per load after picking up the tab for related expenses; hence he would pay Rs 3,000. But Arun replies that they must deploy buses to transport party rank and file for the state secretary’s Yatra, and Rs 5,000 is required to pay per bus.
Miner says that he mines after getting the nod of Mathew’s predecessor, the former CPM branch secretary. Arun replies that now he is at the helm. He also says that he knows mining is done after making a deal with the Koyipram (name of the locality) police. This is the voice message Janam TV telecast.
Koyipram Police SHO reportedly said he did not know about this voice message. But, according to reports, Mathew has come out with a strange argument. He agrees, voice message contains his own voice. But, it was doctored by RSS men, and they added the voice of ‘asking for the money’ (RSS men).
However, media reports suggest, CPM’s Kozhancherry Area Secretary T V Stalin confirms that it is the voice of Arun Mathew. He said the party’s Local Committee would examine this issue, and if Arun were found guilty, the party would take necessary action.
Malayalam print media of today, February 28, have carried this news with prominence. The significance is due to numerous reasons: Several corruption charges against the ruling CPM, several scandals regarding gold smuggling and top bureaucrats’ alleged phone romance with Swapna Suresh, the prime accused in an old smuggling case, disproportionate luxuries of the Government, alleged siphoning of the exchequer to the ‘selected’ centres, etc.
Another joke is the ‘bucket collection’ CPM carries out quite often. Leaders and workers take to the streets with plastic buckets to collect funds; they go to shops, houses and people they face on the road. The advantage of this novel collection is no need for any accounting. Therefore, the latest issue is a heavy jolt to the Pinarayi Vijayan Government and CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF).
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