CPM struggles to defend last frontier Kerala

Party has tried to put its best foot forward this time.

Cutting across party lines, winnability seems to be the key mantra that determined selection of candidates by all three main players for the Lok Sabha elections in Kerala this time. Of course, other than the “Sarana Mantra”, prayer in praise of Lord Ayyappa, that is expected to decide the fortunes of BJP in the southern state. Setting aside the prospects of BJP and its ally the Bharat Dharma Jana Sena and the Congressled United Front, it is more a battle for survival for the communist parties in the country. The motto for them is to win as many seats as they can from their lone remaining bastion in the country. With chances of any sort of alliance with the Congress in West Bengal fading fast, and Tripura written off, CPM’S only hope lies in Kerala. It was with this in mind that the party raced much ahead of others and declared their candidates almost a fortnight ago. Even as the Congress and the BJP squabbled over the list of their candidates in most of the constituencies, with the saffron party yet to decide on the crucial Pathanamthitta seat, the Left Front has fielded six sitting MPS and, in a departure from the past, six sitting MLAS. Also unlike in the past, all the 20 seats will be contested between the two communist parties, the CPM and the CPI, 16 and four, respectively. This is perhaps the first time the Left Front has not given ticket to any of its other constituents. That both the parties are not taking any chance is evident from the fact that almost all the names that appear in the list are either known leaders or seasoned young party workers. But despite all its tall claims over women’s representation in the light of the historic Women’s Wall formed in the name of Second Renaissance on 1 January, only two women figure in the Left Front list, with none from CPI.

Unlike in 2014, when caste and community factors swayed many of the CPM decisions, the party has tried to put its best foot forward this time. This is also taking into consideration that there is every possibility of erosion from its main vote bank, the Hindus, following the agitations the state witnessed over the entry of young women into the Ayyappa temple. But CPM will have to try hard to defend the selection of two of its candidates. One is P.V. Anwar, who is facing a number of charges ranging from financial irregularities to forcible land grab. He is in the dock for illegal construction of a theme park in an ecologically sensitive area, flouting all norms in his hometown, Nilambur in Malappuram district. How Anwar is going to help CPM win Ponnani, a Muslim League stronghold, is to be seen. But the most damaging is going to be that of P. Jayarajan, party’s Kannur strongman, who is contesting from his home town Vadakara in Kozhikode district. Jayarajan, considered the poster boy of political violence in Kerala, is currently facing charges in two murder cases. Kannur had witnessed the highest number of political killings under his nine-year leadership. CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan justified the decision by saying Jayarajan was fielded “as a living martyr of violent politics”. Jayarajan’s right hand was almost severed in an attack by RSS workers in 1999. The hand was later stitched and that “hand is the symbol of Kerala against aggressive politics”, Kodiyeri said. But the cruel joke on the electorate is that Jayarajan stands accused in the murder of an RSS worker, Kathiroor Manoj, who was instrumental in the attack on him in 2014. Even though Jayarajan was arrested in the case, he was later released on conditional bail. “A person is disqualified from contesting only if he is convicted in a case. Jayarajan has not been convicted in any case levelled against him. So there is nothing wrong in fielding him in Vadakara,” Kodiyeri said after releasing the CPM list.

Ironically enough, Onchiam, hometown of murdered CPM rebel T.P. Chandrashekharan, too falls in Vadakara. TP’S brutal murder in 2012 had sent shockwaves across the state, with no one doubting CPM’S hand in it. Despite CPM’S all out efforts to hide the culprits, the then UDF government succeeded in bringing some senior CPM leaders to book. But people in the area believe that the bigger sharks got away, with fingers pointed directly to the current Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who was then the state party secretary. Now his government is trying hard to free those very leaders who are serving life sentences on grounds of “good behaviour” in prison. Chandrashekharan’s widow K.K. Rama, and her Revolutionary Marxist Party, the breakaway group which her slain husband had formed, have pledged support to the Congress candidate K. Muraleedharan.

BJP, too, has put up a candidate here, making it a threecornered fight. It is a prestige battle for CPM. For the party, capturing Vadakara will be worth more than all other 19 seats in the state. If Jayarajan wins in Vadakara, it will be a tight slap in the face of peace loving people of Kerala, though grapevine has it that it is a tactical move on the part of Vijayan-kodiyeri combine to get Jayarajan out of Kannur, where he has become a sort of cult figure, threatening the very leadership of the party.