Seized bombs (Left) and CPM State Secretary M V Govindan (Right)
Communist Party of India (Marxist), as usual, supports the bomb blast accused. As this journal had reported on April 8, Sabinlal, K Atul, Arun and C Sayooj were arrested after the blast. Now, CPM State Secretary M V Govindan has come out with a strange version that the arrested Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) men went to the place of blast for a ‘life saving mission’. He says a DYFI man was arrested when he went to the spot to take the injured ones to the hospital. He attacked the police action. He added that the man was innocent. K Mithun (27) and Amal Babu (29) were arrested yesterday in this connection. It is not clear whom he means as the ‘life saver’.
CPM leadership had said that the propaganda of bomb-making by CPM was false and that the party had nothing to do with the blast. Govindan says the ‘life saver’ was presented in the wrong way, and he is arrested.
Meanwhile, K K Rema, the widow of T P Chandrasekharan, the rebel CPM leader killed on May 12, 2012, allegedly by CPM cadres, has countered Govindan’s argument. She asked how the DYFI men had reached the place of blast immediately. She asked if they knew that bombs were being made there.
It is strange that CPM denounces bomb-making, and, in the same breath, they justify the arrested ones. Now, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan justified the CPM leaders who visited the house of Sharil, the CPM man who was killed in the blast. Pinarayi Vijayan said it is quite a natural and humanitarian gesture to visit the bereaved families. K K Shailaja, senior CPM leader, former State Minister and LDF candidate from Vadakara, had also tried to escape, stating that there is no need to trace the political affiliations of the accused as they are criminals.
CPM has taken the stand that the accused are no more linked with the party; party has denied the links.
Now, a couple of interesting issues need to be looked into. Is CPM Secretary Govindan blaming the police for arresting the ‘life saver’? Does he conveniently forget that the police are controlled by the Home Ministry, which is presided over by no less a person than his own leader and Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan?
Life-saving is a noble concept. But, when CPM leaders quote it, people ridicule it. They know the term ‘life saver’ has a peculiar meaning in the CPM lexicon as it is too early for them to forget what Pinarayi said during his propagated Nava Kerala Sadas. When three or four youths protested against extravagant spending of the taxpayers’ money for Nav Kerala Sadas on November 20, 2023, at Eravipuram, Kollam district, they were attacked by DYFI men with helmets, earthen flower pots and iron rods. They were hospitalised with fatal head injuries. But, Pinarayi Vijayan justified the attack, stating that DYFI men were on a life-saving mission. Otherwise, vehicles of the convoy would have hit them !!
Reports suggest that dissatisfaction is brewing within CPM for the blast and consequent justification by the brass of the party. They are worried, it will jeopardise the party’s and LDF’s election prospects. There are reports that K K Shailaja has expressed dissatisfaction with the State leadership.
Union Minister V Muraleedharan asked the CPM leadership if the bomb-making was for creating communal riots or for eliminating political opponents. He attacked the CPM statements, saying that they were afraid to face the truth.
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