Author: VR Jayaraj
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: March 22, 2009
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/164147/Kerala-Old-politics-new-allies.html
The seat-sharing arrangement has turned into
a multi-pronged war in the CPI(M)-led LDF in Kerala as the CPI(M) is striking
alliances with organisations and people of questionable integrity and ignoring
the interests of its time-tested allies.
The multi-pronged war in Kerala's CPI(M)-led
LDF over seat-sharing formula and ethics is not just a matter of Marxist hegemony
over allies. There is more than what meet the eyes, indeed.
After decades of secular evolution, much of
which was based on BJP-baiting and objections to the Congress's affinity for
the Muslim vote-bank, the Marxists in Kerala are now at a stage where they
are forging an alliance with forces that their own ancestors had sent to prison
for indulging in acts of terror. Developments in Kerala, which claims to be
the most politically conscious province in India, for the past two weeks have
proved that the Marxists are ready to break even long-standing relations with
their time-tested allies for the sake of a new friendship with people and
forces who have never been able to shake off their image of terror.
In order to humour PDP chairman ICS Abdul
Nasser Madani, the CPI(M) in the State appeared willing to break a three-decade
long relationship with its ally CPI. It was Madani who decided the candidate
for Ponnani, a seat which was to be contested by a CPI candidate as per the
seat-sharing formula in the ruling LDF led by the CPI(M). The CPI(M) leadership
displayed no qualms in being identified as Madani's ally or even counter reports
that Madani had got Kerala CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan on a leash. Even
after the CPI national leadership's open criticisms of the link between Madani
and the CPI(M), the latter refused to break the tie or even conceal it.
The CPI tried to hold its ground for a few
days, threatening the CPI(M), even openly stating that Pinarayi was responsible
for the situation, but the Marxists refused to axe their association with
Madani. The CPI(M) insisted that Ponnani was a seat which as a rule belonged
to the CPI but its candidate would be decided by them, rather by Madani. The
PDP leader, against whom allegations of terror links abound, even challenged
the CPI, one of the most trustworthy political parties in Kerala, saying he
would consider its views but on the condition that the candidate proposed
by him for Ponnani stays. The CPI(M)-CPI standoff on the issue has now led
to the biggest crisis ever in the LDF but the CPI(M) was clearly not prepared
to save the front by asking Madani to be reasonable. CPI leaders did continue
their fight for a while but eventually surrendered and accepted what came
its way from big boss CPI(M), which has been dancing to Madani's tune.
Madani's support for the CPI(M) in Ponnani
and in other seats presently is from outside but analysts are convinced that
the PDP will become its most trusted ally after the elections even though
the CPI(M) does not expect much from the elections despite the claims it makes
for public consumption.
Ironically, all this is happening in a State
whose internal security is looked after by a CPI(M) Home Minister, Kodiyeri
Balakrishnan, under whose charge the police have already arrested at least
a dozen terror operatives with allegedly direct or indirect connections with
Madani. Kodiyeri's police are convinced that these terror operatives have
direct links with organisations like Indian Mujahiddeen and Lashkar-e-Tayyeba.
Several of those arrested have even admitted to the police that they have
connections with Madani and his wife Sufiya. However, Kodiyeri says there
will be no fresh probe against them.
While Madani is the apparent reason for the
CPI(M)'s callous attitude towards the CPI, to the extent of even risking a
possible split in the LDF, the cause of its enmity with the Janata Dal(S),
an ally for 30 years with four seats in the Assembly and a Minister in the
LDF Cabinet, is totally mysterious. Pinarayi Vijayan told JD(S) that it would
not get the Kozhikode seat where the sitting MP was its State president MP
Veerendrakumar. The CPI(M) told the party, whose national leader HD Deve Gowda
was running around to bring in as many parties as possible to the Marxist
dream of a Third Front, that if it wanted to contest a seat as part of the
front it could take the newly created Wayanad seat. Apart from the illogical
explanation of the CPI(M) about changes in the Kozhikode seat after delimitation,
which could not convince even its own workers, no other reasons were provided.
There were reports that JD(S) had held negotiations
with the Opposition UDF but this had no relevance because the CPI(M) had decided
to wrest the Kozhikode seat even before this allegation came up. The only
plausible reason was that Mathrubhumi newspaper, of which JD(S) MP Veerendrakumar
was the managing director, had been running stories on corruption in the CPI(M),
the redoubtable relationships of Pinarayi Vijayan, etc. However, this was
not offered as a reason for denying the Kozhikode seat to the JD(S). The party
threatened to withdraw its lone Minister from the Cabinet and warned that
it would contest the Kozhikode seat on its own, indicating they were headed
for a split. But Pinarayi and the CPI(M) remained unperturbed. On Thursday,
they walked out of an LDF meet, almost deciding on the final act: Split.
It then transpired that Muhammad Riyas, the
young man proposed by Pinarayi as the CPI(M) candidate for Kozhikode seat,
which was a surprise even to the district committee of the party, was a close
relative of businessman Pharis Aboobacker, whom Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan
had once called a "hated personality", and who was reportedly a
close associate of Pinarayi. Allegations came up that Pinarayi Vijayan was
"duty-bound" to give the Kozhikode seat to Pharis' kin.
Analysts point out that these are disturbing
trends in the alliances in store for Kerala politics from the CPI(M)'s side
after the Lok Sabha elections, and perhaps the 2011 Assembly elections. On
the one hand it is forging relationships with organisations which have reported
links with international terror groups and on the other new friendships are
being brought into politics with people and groups who are accused of slush
money deals putting a question mark on the CPI(M)'s credentials.
