A social media post by Adv. Roopesh Pannyan, son of senior CPI leader Pannyan Raveendran, criticising the lavish lifestyle of Left leaders has drawn attention. The post has triggered wider comment, as the CPI, CPIM and the Left Democratic Front to which they belong have been inviting the wrath of ordinary people, voters and the elite. Now, criticism has begun to emerge even from within the families of senior Left leaders, an unusual scenario among communists.
Commentators point out that they practise a nepotistic system similar to the Congress: while not many ‘sons’ and ‘daughters’ rise to top party positions, they secure good positions in officialdom or favourable assistance in business, and in some cases positions within big business groups.
Roopesh’s post assumes significance in the wake of the recently concluded elections to the local self-government bodies. Pannyan Raveendran is a former MP (Lok Sabha), former State Secretary of the party and a Central Committee member.
In his Facebook post, Roopesh stated that ordinary people cannot be mesmerised by the distribution of grains or money kits when elections are round the corner. Using sharp Malayalam vocabulary, he said that time would not wait for leaders sleeping in ivory towers, speeding in posh vehicles with beacon lights and tight security, and living like Maharajas while ignoring the tears of the poor. He added that anyone could think that the crores of rupees wasted on boasting about the eradication of extreme poverty could instead have been spent on housing for the poor.
The Government of Kerala had declared on November 1 that Kerala was a State free from extreme poverty. However, people and opposition parties alleged that the declaration was a mere eyewash. Subsequently, the government spent crores on mega programmes to propagate the declaration.
Roopesh made it clear that one does not become a communist merely by flaunting a red flag or shouting traditional communal slogans. Real communists, he said, are not after power.
He added that he is aware that no one needs real communists today. Yet, he hoped that this fall, the local self-government election debacle, would become a turning point for transforming the party into a real communist organisation. While ordinary people are struggling due to price rise, discussions revolve around Israel, Palestine, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, caste and religion. VIPs and cultural personalities may enjoy such debates, but they will not fill the bellies of the poor. This reality, he said, must be realised.
Roopesh’s social media post is being viewed as the tip of the iceberg. It signals a new trend emerging within the Left camp in Kerala, indicating growing dissatisfaction among the rank and file and rapidly increasing discontent.
