| Published on 23-03-2007 In National |
| Viewed 3796 times |
| 'Wanted a Muslim kidney', says a paper advt in Kerala |
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Written by
Kumar Chellappan |
It seems the Marxists in Bengal and Kerala are vying with one another to get rid of the last drops of the goodwill they enjoy with the people in their states. There was a time in Kerala when we were very proud to proclaim our Marxist leanings. The 1970s and 80s used to be the era when we shouted the slogan: "There is no Hindu blood among us; There is no Muslim blood among us and there is no Christian blood among us. It is human blood which runs in our veins and it is red in colour."
That was the most popular slogan on the campuses. Not any more. The Communists, especially CPI (M), took some sadistic pleasure in hurting the Hindu sentiments by humiliating the Gods and Goddesses.
It all began with E K Nayanar, the late Marxist chief minister who was sworn in with the tacit support extended by a faction of the Congress led by A K Antony, the Kerala Congress, a political offshoot of the Roman Catholic Church and a splinter group of the Muslim League.
There were some robberies in the famous temples of the state, which forced some Hindu leaders to request the chief minister to provide police security to the temples. "Non-sense," shouted Nayanar. "Your Gods and Goddesses are incapable of saving themselves from the robbers and dacoits. Then how are they going to save you?" Nayanar ridiculed the Hindu leaders. This resulted in the alienation of the Hindu community from the Communists.
The government of Nayanar fell apart in 1982 following realignment of forces in the state and the subsequent election saw the vanquishing of the CPI (M) and its allies.
But then, K Karunakaran, who assumed the office of the chief minister in 1982, was no better. In fact he went on a minority appeasement spree by declaring pension and other welfare schemes for the Mullas and Moulavis in the Madrasas. The state saw a number of starvation deaths during the period (1982-87) but Karunakaran, who was busy consolidating his position in the party and government did not bother to take notice of the ground realities.
By 1987, the CPI (M) understood the seriousness behind the alienation of the Hindus without whose help, the Marxists would have drawn a blank in the general election.
In a strategic move, the party projected K R Gowriamma, the veteran Communist leader belonging to the powerful Eezhava community as the chief ministerial candidate. It is the Eezhava community among the Hindus which constitute the CPI (M) vote bank.
The CPI (M) led Left Front swept the 1987 general election but the party brought back Nayanar, who had not contested the election, as the chief minister. There was widespread resentment among the Eezhava community because of the sidelining of Gowriamma. But the CPI (M) silenced the revolt by ousting Gowriamma from the party.
The Hindu-Muslim-Christian unity slogans were dumped in the dustbin by the new-age party leaders like Pinarayi Vijayan and M A Baby. The CPI (M) too unleashed a minority appeasement policy much to the dismay of the youth. While the Hindus were sidelined, ignored and humiliated, the party leaders were seen at the doors of fundamentalist Islamic leaders like Kanthapuram Musaliyar.
There were instances when the CPI (M) cadre went on destroying and demolishing the temples built in honour of Sreenarayana Guru, the great social reformer from the Eezhava Community who played a major role in eradicating untouchability and casteism from the state.
Subsequent events proved beyond doubt that the CPI (M) was no different when it came to caste politics. The religious demography of the constituency became the yardstick while selecting candidates for the Lok Sabha and assembly elections. Dedicated party workers with distinguished service where ignored while greenhorns laughed all their way to New Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram.
Moreover, true to their images portrayed in Animal Farm, a novel by George Orwell, the Marxists too followed the dictum "all are equal but some are more equal". Children of party leaders were sent to public schools in Ooty and Dehradun while those of the proletarians were condemned to learn in government schools lacking in basic infrastructure. Names of many CPI (M) leaders propped up in sex scandals, flesh trade and hawala transactions.
The 2006 elections saw the CPI (M) back in power not because of the inefficiency of the Congress-led UDF but due to the severe infighting among the front partners. The fact that V S Achuthanandan, the CPI (M) stalwart was initially denied the ticket to Assembly election speaks volumes of the group rivalry in the party.
It is an open secret that the CPI (M) in Kerala is on the verge of a vertical split with Pinarayi Vijayan (the party state secretary) and Achuthanandan pulling the pary in different directions. It was with a sense of heartburn the Pinarayi faction agreed to field V S in the assembly election. And the party took more than one week to finalize the name of the chief ministerial candidate and that too after the declaration of results.
Many instances proved beyond doubt about the factionalism in the CPI (M), once known for its discipline. Ministers and the chief minister speak in different tones making terms such as collective responsibility and inner-party democracy a mockery. Kodiyeri Balkakrishnan, the Home Minister, finds sadistic pleasure in taking potshots at VS on a daily basis. The other day, A K Balan, the minister for power, put the chief minister in deep embarrassment by declaring that the Hindu Gods and Goddesses have no sense of shame. "They do not wear clothes. You go to any temples and what you see is sculptures depicting Kamasutra (art of sex)," said Balan.
"We are not bothered if Balan does not believe in God. But he can restrain or refrain from making statements which are derogatory and inconsistent with his position as a minister," said P P Mukundan, the state B J P Leader. "The question is whether Balan has the capacity to issue derogatory statements about the Christians and Muslims," said Hari Kartha, veteran journalist.
Strange are the ways with the people of Kerala, described as God's Own Country and the most literate state in India. One of the prominent Malayalam dailies had this advertisement the other day: "Wanted a Muslim kidney. Donors will be compensated suitably." The day is not far off when the state will have advertisements for Muslim Blood and Christian heart!
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