JUNE 15, 2012 Politics The siege within

With the RSS agenda in mind, Nitin Gadkari concedes Narendra Modi’s demand to

oust Sanjay Joshi from the BJP’s national executive. BY VENKITESH RAMAKRISHNAN

The RSS had no option but to take party’s two-day national executive meet held there on May 24 and 25. Later assessments within the Sangh Parivar about the “resolutions and the new one step backward, ostensibly to paths” charted out at these conclaves have not been take two steps forward at a later laudatory. The June 2004 national executive was in the stage. Its vision for the BJP and context of the “shock defeat” the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) suffered in the Lok Sab- Gadkari’s role in it is not merely for ha elections in April-May that year. The recent con- clave was held in the wake of the February-March the next three years or for the next Assembly elections where the saffron party received a drubbing in its one-time bastion of Uttar Pradesh general election. and failed to return to power, despite high hopes, in the small hill State of Uttarakhand. The December 2005 conclave was a celebration of the 25th anni- versary of the BJP, but it was marred the night before it was formally inaugurated by a “CD scandal” alleg- edly involving RSS pracharak-turned-BJP leader Sanjay Joshi. The scandal led to the ouster of Joshi from the conference site as well as the upper eche- lons of the party. The refrain in BJP circles at that time was that Joshi had been “fixed” in the scandal by his adversaries in the party. Among those counted as archrivals of Joshi was Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat. Seven years later, as the BJP leadership met once again in Mumbai, the meeting was preceded by

VIVEK BENDRE Joshi’s removal from the party’s national executive. BJP PRESIDENT NITIN Gadkari (right) with senior This time, however, Modi’s position was not just as leader L.K. Advani at the national executive one of Joshi’s many rivals. It was a head-on fight, and meeting in Mumbai on May 24. Joshi had to pay the price for his rivalry with Modi. The Gujarat Chief Minister made it clear that he MUMBAI seems to signal a sense of deja vu for would not attend the national executive if Joshi was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Every time the not removed from the committee. According to party principal opposition party in the country has held its insiders, Modi has been “deeply distrustful” of Joshi conclave there since 2004, a similar set of political since they worked together in Gujarat in the 1990s. and organisational dilemmas have confronted it. On Both Joshi and Modi, reportedly, never let go of an each occasion the party as well as the Rashtriya opportunity to pull down each other. Modi believed Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), which dictates its over- that after Joshi’s recent rehabilitation in the party, all ideological, political and organisational param- he had been promoting dissidence in the Gujarat eters, has resolved to chart out a new direction to BJP by supporting those like former Chief Minister overcome the existing problems, strengthen itself Keshubhai Patel. and reach out to new constituencies. The cream of That the BJP’s national president Nitin Gadkari the BJP cadre had assembled at the conclaves held in took no action against Keshubhai, who recently cas- Mumbai in June 2004 and December 2005 as at the tigated Modi publicly, helped strengthen the Gujarat

FRONTLINE 23 JUNE 15, 2012

Chief Minister’s suspicion about Joshi. So Modi decided to go all out in his fight against Joshi. Consequently, Gadkari, who had reinstated Joshi and accorded him importance in the party set-up, was forced to evict his favourite colleague. In a sense, it was like accept- ing the diktats of a more powerful leader. Apparently, the RSS leadership also advised Gadkari to give in to the Gujarat Chief Minister. Modi had re- fused to attend the last national exec- utive of the party, protesting against the importance accorded to Joshi un- der Gadkari’s leadership.

MESSINESS QUOTIENT In many ways, the messiness quotient in the latest conclave was higher than in 2005. For, it was not Modi alone who was throwing a tantrum in the context of the national executive meet. Former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, who had been divested of his position on account of a number of corruption charges, was also sulking because of the “failure of the national leadership” to reinstate him as Chief Minister. Yeddyurappa was finally brought around to attend the conclave through persuasions and entreaties. While Modi came for the conference in the evening of the first day of the meet,

Yeddyurappa made his appearance on MITESH BHUVAD/PTI the second and final day. GUJARAT CHIEF MINISTER Narendra Modi being welcomed by party By all indications, the RSS had ad- workers on his arrival at the national executive meeting. vised Gadkari to give in to Modi and entreat with Yeddyurappa, essentially On his part, Modi virtually linked his front. “Did anyone from Delhi know to push forward its new plans for the endorsement of an extension of Gad- Nitin Gadkari three years back? Now organisational and political revival of kari’s tenure and his attendance at the they know him. Every post someone the BJP, which is the political arm of conclave to Joshi’s ouster from the par- holds is respectable. Zero has no value. the Sangh Parivar. At the organisa- ty’s higher echelons. But if you put one before it, it is 10. In tional level, the RSS had given direc- So the RSS had no option but to the same way, if you put another zero, tions to amend the BJP constitution so take one step backward, ostensibly to it’s 100,” he said. Clearly, the RSS is that Gadkari could have an extension take two steps forward at a later stage. ready even to put up with a hitherto to his current three-year term. The At a larger level, the move also under- unprecedented loss of face before a RSS wanted all the top leaders of the lined the fact that the RSS top brass BJP leader to advance its medium- party to be present while carrying out was convinced that, despite the many and long-term game plan. this amendment. Apparently, senior foibles and failures of Gadkari that are BJP leaders such as L.K. Advani, for- discussed widely in political circles, in- RSS GAME PLAN mer Deputy Prime Minister, and Arun cluding within the BJP, the Maharash- Gadkari himself gave a broad indica- Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, Leaders of tra leader is best suited to carry out its tion of what this Sangh Parivar-driven the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and agenda within the party. In fact, RSS medium- and long-term agenda would Lok Sabha respectively, also made it leader M.G. Vaidya made no secret of be in the BJP and how it would pos- clear that such an important decision this while reacting to the develop- sibly unfold in the days to come. Mak- could not be taken in Modi’s absence. ments in the BJP on the Modi-Joshi ing his presidential address, he

24 FRONTLINE JUNE 15, 2012

referred to the ongoing preparation of ous levels of the party. “Individualism, in the constitution for the extension of a Vision 2025 document, which would lack of consultation and coordination, Gadkari’s term asserts is that the RSS help carve out a new India, obviously and absence of camaraderie are taking is by and large satisfied with the Mah- as conceived by the Hindutva philoso- root, diluting the effectiveness of the arashtra leader’s performance though phy of the Sangh Parivar. Gadkari said party’s activities,” it said. It also stated there have been several complaints that Vision 2025 “will project the BJP’s that the “commitment to ideology has against him regarding nepotism, pro- future-focussed perspectives, ideas to be measured also against the yard- motion of illegitimate corporate inter- and commitments on a wide range of stick of behaviour and style of func- ests and mismanagement of party issues centred on the theme – ‘Making tioning” of individual leaders. affairs. And hence the fountainhead of India a Strong, Prosperous and Har- The document laid down tasks re- the Sangh Parivar wants Gadkari to monious Nation, A Shaper of the lating to four fronts: ideological, orga- continue in his position and advance World’s Destiny in the 21st Century’. nisational, legislative and the task further. The document will contain big and governance-related. Under the subject However, the manner in which this ambitious ideas, and at the same time line of organisation, the document list- constitutional requirement – in terms also a practical road map on imple- ed tasks under 20 specific headings. of party organisation – has been mentation. It will enable all our These emphasised the need for collec- achieved raises questions as to wheth- [workers] and supporters to propaga- tive leadership, cooperation and com- er Gadkari and, more importantly, the te the party’s perspectives and goals on munication among top leaders, RSS top brass will be able to sustain many issues that the thinking people commitment and accountability to the the agenda and tasks related to it. in our country are already seriously party as opposed to individuals, the What the developments in the Mum- debating. It will also be helpful in pro- need to stem indiscipline, and the ut- bai conclave have underscored is that jecting the image of the BJP as a party most necessity of developing young Modi has asserted his pre-eminence with an inspiring vision, which it is leaders through sustained mass and among BJP leaders. He has not only committed to implementing by unit- organisational work. forced the RSS to buy peace with him ing the productive energies of the na- but also moved ahead of other BJP tion.” Chief Ministers and secured a position Obviously, the RSS’ vision for the The BJP in the party on a par with Gadkari, BJP and Gadkari’s role in it is not Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. In merely for the next three years or tar- constitution other words, this very act of defiance by geted merely at the next general elec- Modi and the submission to his de- tions. It points to a larger plan in terms was amended mands by the RSS and Gadkari make of advancing Hindutva ideology and the Gujarat Chief Minister a front run- politics. According to a senior Luck- so that Gadkari ner for the party’s leadership in the now-based RSS leader, this preference next general elections as a prime min- for Gadkari emanates essentially from could have an isterial candidate. the perceptions put forth in an orga- Given the current indications, the nisational document that was present- extension to his RSS is not in favour of such a projec- ed at yet another conclave in Mumbai, tion. On the prime ministerial candi- the national executive of 2004. This three-year term. date, too, its first choice, though document, titled “Tasks Ahead: Im- unexpressed, is Gadkari. This is bound mediate and Long-Term”, was pre- According to a number of RSS to trigger new struggles within the po- pared and presented immediately leaders, these rectification initiatives litical arm of the Sangh Parivar. In after the first Congress-led United in the post-2004 period were original- other words, possibilities for organisa- Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to ly assigned to Rajnath Singh, who was tional implosion are inherent in the power in 2004 defeating the NDA. elevated as BJP president in December one step backward, two steps forward The 42-page document highlighted 2005. An assessment of Rajnath strategy. In the affirmation of that neg- “many shortcomings” in the BJP that Singh’s tenure by the RSS later was ative possibility too, Mumbai’s con- were apparently “inconsistent with that he had failed in fulfilling the brief clave of May 2012 fits in with the [the] party’s ideals and objectives, given to him. Post-2009 elections, too, overall impact of the two earlier meet- with [its] distinctive ideology, and also the BJP witnessed a strengthening of ings in the city. After all, according to with guiding organisational principles the negative tendencies despite the the evaluation of the RSS top brass and canons”. electoral reverses, the senior RSS lead- itself, neither Advani, who was at the The document stated that there er told Frontline. It was in this context helm of affairs in 2004, nor Rajnath had been an erosion of commitment to that Gadkari was brought in from the Singh, his successor in 2005, fulfilled the principles of collective leadership, second-rung of leadership in Maha- the grand plans formulated in the con- cooperation and commitment at vari- rashtra. What the current amendment claves in those respective years. २

FRONTLINE 25 Politics/Karnataka JUNE 15, 2012 On the back foot An FIR that the CBI filed on May 15 pushes dissident BJP leader and former Chief

Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa into a tight corner. BY RAVI SHARMA IN BANGALORE

Yeddyurappa, who was threatening voters will go up in smoke if he precipitates a crisis and leaves the party now. There is also no clear indication even to him whether a large section of the the survival of the Bharatiya Janata BJP legislators will desert the party and join him Party government in the State, has should he choose to do so. Hardly a quarter of the 70-odd legislators whose support he has been claim- been silenced for now, but the ing turned up on May 18 when he opened his “public contact office” in Bangalore. party’s troubles are far from over. In recent weeks, lambasting his party’s central leadership for not supporting him as he waded from FORMER Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddy- one crisis to another, Yeddyurappa threatened to urappa, who was until a year ago the poster boy for leave the party along with his supporters. He repeat- the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has been pushed edly accused senior BJP leaders from Karnataka of into a tight corner yet again. On May 15, following an trying to destroy him politically and even did the order of the Supreme Court, the Central Bureau of unthinkable by praising Sonia Gandhi, president of Investigation (CBI) registered a first information the Congress, which is his party’s biggest adversary. report (FIR) against him, his two sons and a son-in- In a bid to put pressure on the BJP leadership to law, a businessman and a mining company, in a come to his aid, he got nine Ministers in his successor Special Court in Bangalore. Despite some posturing D.V. Sadananda Gowda’s Cabinet to submit their in recent weeks – to get himself reinstated after the resignations to him and threatened the survival of Karnataka High Court quashed a portion of the the BJP dispensation in Karnataka, made overtures Lokayukta report indicting him in a mining scam for to the Congress and even accused Sadananda Gowda which he had to demit office in July last – Yeddyu- of hobnobbing with the BJP’s political rivals, most rappa is fully aware that the support he has among notably with Janata Dal (Secular) president H.D. the politically, socially and economically dominant Deve Gowda. Lingayat community to which he belongs and the But all his antics seem to have been to no avail. Neither the party nor the religious pontiffs of the Lingayat sect, who still see him as the community’s tallest political leader, stuck their necks out to es- pouse his cause. Polite noises were indeed made about the need to respect a senior leader, but nothing close to Yeddyurappa’s demand that he be reinstated as Chief Minister. On May 20, former BJP president Rajnath Singh reflected the party leadership’s think- ing on Yeddyurappa’s reinstatement when he said, “Where is the vacancy? D.V. Sadananda Gowda is our Chief Minister in Karnataka.” Reacting angrily to Rajnath Singh’s statement, Yeddyurappa, who in the past year had been mouthing belligerent threats at one instance and his avowals of loyalty to the party the next, said that he had never clamoured for any party position or the Chief Minister’s post. K. MURALI KUMAR Yeddyurappa spent the better part of his three CBI OFFICIALS COMING out of the office of years as Chief Minister fighting dissidence, primarily Prerana Trust, run by close relatives of from disgruntled legislators wanting ministerial B.S. Yeddyurappa, in Bangalore on May 16. berths, the mining barons of Bellary who aspired for

26 FRONTLINE JUNE 15, 2012 PTI YEDDYURAPPA ADDRESSING THE media along with his supporters at his residence in Bangalore on May 14. He claims to have the support of 70 legislators. more autonomy and higher offices, nor H.R. Bhardwaj to prosecute him a gentlemen’s agreement between the and a section of the party which owes on the basis of the report. It also two, but Sadananda Gowda has now its allegiance to H.N. Ananth Kumar, quashed the FIR registered against chosen to say that it is up to the central the BJP’s national general secretary him by the investigation wing of the leadership [of the BJP] to take a call. and Yeddyurappa’s bete noire. Lokayukta police. For the central leadership, trying as it Yeddyurappa was removed from is to embarrass the Congress-led Unit- the Chief Minister’s post last July after FEELING PIQUED ed Progressive Alliance government the Karnataka Lokayukta (ombuds- Buoyed by the court’s verdict, Yeddyu- on various corruption charges, a man), in its report on the multi-crore rappa, who claimed that BJP president charge of corruption levelled against illegal iron-ore mining scam, recom- Nitin Gadkari had promised to rein- one of its own Chief Ministers is un- mended criminal proceedings against state him if his name “was cleared”, has tenable. That is why Yeddyurappa was him under the Prevention of Corrup- been demanding the same. Then came removed in the first place. He can’t be tion Act. He got a reprieve on March 7 the CBI’s latest FIR on May 15. Yeddy- reinstated until he comes out clean.” when a Division Bench of the Karnata- urappa has also been saying that it was Minister for Agriculture Umesh V. ka High Court rejected a portion of the he who installed Sadananda Gowda as Katti, who was among those who sub- Lokayukta report on illegal mining Chief Minister and that the latter had mitted their resignations to Yeddyu- that accused Yeddyurappa of corrup- promised to step down once his name rappa, said that it was for the BJP’s tion in granting mining leases to two was cleared. He is piqued that this has central leadership to decide what to companies and invalidated the sanc- not happened. do. Katti and other Ministers loyal to tion given (in January 2011) by Gover- Said a senior Minister: “There was Yeddyurappa are angry with Sadanan-

FRONTLINE 27 Politics/Karnataka JUNE 15, 2012

Pieces of a puzzle

THE immediate political future of Society, run by close relatives of the mining found to have taken place B.S. Yeddyurappa hangs in the bal- former Chief Minister. and the allegations made against the ance in the aftermath of the findings What was perplexing to the CEC Jindal Group as recipients of large of the Central Bureau of Investiga- was that the company which made quantities of illegally mined material tion. The CBI action follows the legal the payment – in two cheques in and undue favours shown to it in efforts of a Dharwad-based non-gov- March 2010 – made only a net profit respect of mining lease of [the State- ernmental organisation, Samaja Pa- of Rs.5.73 crore in 2009-10. government owned] M/s Mysore rivartana Samudaya, which Making it more suspicious, ac- Minerals Ltd”. approached the Supreme Court cording to the CEC, was the fact that The CEC further recommended seeking an inquiry by the CBI into neither South West Mining nor any that the CBI probe two donations the accusations made against Yeddy- other company controlled or man- amounting to Rs.6 crore made by urappa and his kin in the Lokayukta aged by the Jindal Group had made mining lessee R. Praveen Chandra to report last year. The court appointed such a large donation to any other entities owned by Yeddyurappa’s a Central Empowered Committee society or trust. kin, which according to the CEC (CEC) to look into the matter. The CEC report said that the were a “quid pro quo for allotment of On May 11, the court agreed with Bangalore land deal involved “seri- a mining lease”. the recommendations of its CEC and ous violations of relevant Acts and As part of its investigations the ordered a CBI probe. The CBI has procedural lapses and prima facie CBI on May 16 conducted searches time until August 3 to submit its [indicated] misuse of office by the in Bangalore and Shimoga at the of- report to the Supreme Court. then Chief Minister thereby en- fices and residences of Yeddyurappa, In its 17-page report, the CEC abling his close relatives to make his kin and their trusts, his close as- has indicted Yeddyurappa, his sons windfall profits, and raises grave is- sociates, former Minister S.N. Krish- B.Y. Vijayendra and B.Y. Raghaven- sues relating to undue favours, ethics na Shetty and BJP legislators S.R. dra, and son-in-law R.N. Sohan Ku- and morality”. Vishwanath and Lehar Singh Siroya. mar for their involvement in the Expressing shock and concern at The houses and offices of senior Jin- illegal allotment of land in Banga- the spread and extent of illegal dal Group executives in Bangalore lore to South West Mining Ltd, own- mining in Karnataka, the CEC rec- and Bellary district were also ed by the Jindal Group, in return for ommended that a detailed investiga- searched as part of the ongoing in- Rs.10 crore given as donations to a tion be done by the CBI into “the vestigations. charitable trust, Prerana Education massive illegalities and illegal Ravi Sharma da Gowda and BJP State party presi- national general secretary Dharmen- The party has to take a call if it dent K.S. Eshwarappa for writing let- dra Pradhan, who recently visited wants to hold on to the Lingayat vote, ters to the central leadership accusing Bangalore and elicited the views of the which has been its mainstay and cata- them of getting involved in anti-party rival camps, had said that some deci- pulted it to power in the State in May activities. They wanted Sadananda sions would be taken to resolve the 2008. Gowda to convene a meeting of the crisis. But will it? Past record shows that BJP legislature party to discuss the is- Yeddyurappa has accused Ananth the euphoria of attaining power for the sue. But the Chief Minister has stead- Kumar of hatching conspiracies and first time in a southern State had ham- fastly refused to do so. creating confusion in the State unit of pered the BJP from taking tough deci- “When the Chief Minister writes the party, of desperately wanting to sions against Yeddyurappa and that he has no faith in us, why should become the Chief Minister himself, disciplining the mining barons of Bel- we continue?” asked Katti. He said and of “poisoning the ears of national lary. If that record is anything to go by, they had submitted their resignations leaders like L.K. Advani” against him. nothing much can be expected from to Yeddyurappa and not the Chief He also accused Eshwarappa of “ven- the leadership. For now, the party, Minister since the former was their detta politics”. When this correspond- which calls itself “the party with a dif- leader. Katti said that both the party’s ent spoke to Eshwarappa, all that he ference”, will limp along and continue central leadership and the Chief Min- was prepared to say was: “Let the cen- to suffer irreparable damage until the ister had asked them not to press for tral leadership take any decision on elections, which are hardly 12 months their resignations. He added that BJP Yeddyurappa.” away. २

28 FRONTLINE JUNE 15, 2012 Politics/Kerala Credibility muddle

A political murder and its repercussions have left the CPI(M) in Kerala in an

unenviable position. BY R. KRISHNAKUMAR IN THIRUVANANTHAPURAM

The CPI(M)’s Polit Bureau and approval of many of his positions (vis-a-vis that of the State leadership) that won elections for the party. central committee meetings, But, as the official leadership tightened its grip on the party, a number of dissenters eventually left scheduled on June 8 to 10, may not the CPI(M) for one reason or the other. Some, in- cluding Chandrasekharan, formed the RMP in 2008 be able to ignore the curious political following differences of opinion with the State lead- ership over sharing of the president’s post at Eramala grama panchayat with the Janata Dal(S), then a situation that has evolved in the constituent of the Left Democratic Front (LDF). The State party after May 4. RMP also became part of an anti-CPI(M) umbrella platform, Edathupaksha Ekopana Samiti (the Left MAY has not been a good month for the Commu- Coordination Council), which was a thorn in the nist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala, a State crucial flesh for the CPI(M) in several constituencies, espe- to the party and the Left movement in terms of mass cially in north Kerala, in many elections that came support, resources and pro-people achievements thereafter. and as the laboratory of their historic struggles for Significantly, in the last local body elections, the political and democratic rights and development RMP emerged victorious at Onchium panchayat and welfare initiatives. Never in recent history has near Vadakara while the LDF was ruling the State. the CPI(M) in the State been in such a big credibility (Onchium is a traditional communist stronghold muddle as it has been since the barbaric killing of known for the martyrdom of eight members of the former party dissenter and Revolutionary Marxist banned Communist Party during British rule in Party (RMP) leader T.P. Chandrasekharan near Va- 1948.) With that symbolically significant victory, its dakara in north Kerala on May 4 (Frontline, June 1, architect, RMP’s Onchium area secretary Chandra- 2012). sekharan, found his popularity and his and his par- Chandrasekharan had been among the crop of ty’s troubles vis-a-vis the CPI(M), too, increasing. In relatively young CPI(M) leaders who had been for a the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, the nearly 21,000 while openly posing their own convictions about the votes that Chandrasekharan got as the Ekopana party and its ideals against what they often alleged as Samiti candidate in the CPI(M) stronghold of Va- “deviations” in the policies and pro- dakara played a significant role in the grammes of the CPI(M) under the victory of the Congress’ Mullappally “official State leadership”, or the Ramachandran (now Union Minister dominant party faction led by State of State for Home) there. secretary Pinarayi Vijayan. They had The RMP, however, remained initially tried to link their dissenting largely a pocket-borough phenom- views to the factional banner raised enon since its victory at Onchium by former Chief Minister and Oppo- panchayat, but its nuisance value to sition Leader V.S. Achuthanandan the CPI(M) was more than evident. within the CPI(M). Many of them There were several occasions when also remained a silent source of RMP leaders and cadre organised strength for Achuthanandan, even large party programmes in the area

calling upon him at times to quit the THE HINDU ARCHIVES and complained of being threatened party when he faced repeated set- T.P. CHANDRASEKHARAN, and physically attacked by CPI(M) backs within the CPI(M), despite his whose murder has led to a activists. popularity outside and the public political churning in Kerala. Kerala generally sought to see the

FRONTLINE 29 JUNE 15, 2012

May 4 murder of Chandrasekharan as manner that it left over 50 wounds on and his fellows were indeed still con- a natural corollary to such a vicious, his body. There were two deep wounds sidered “traitors” by the party, and one-sided series of physical attacks. on his face. A blow to his head shat- Achuthanandan describing Chandra- Chandrasekharan had in a very short tered a part of the skull. His left ear was sekharan instead as a “brave commu- time gained a reputation in the State severed and a part of his face was be- nist”, the police inquiry that followed for his commitment, honesty and gen- yond recognition. and its initial conclusions have only tlemanly behaviour and as an effective A simple man, a committed young helped highlight the contrast between party organiser and popular leader. leader from a communist family who public perception about the murder However, he and others like him who had no known personal enemies, was and the CPI(M)’s official position on it. left the party and “helped the CPI(M)’s done to death in such a pitiless man- At the time of writing this report, enemies” had promptly and unambig- ner, and there was an immediate out- the police had arrested over 14 per- uously been described by Pinarayi Vi- pouring of support for sons, including several prominent CPI jayan as “traitors who needed to be Chandrasekharan, his wife and son (M) leaders and workers; identified kept out of the party”. For the CPI(M), and his fledgling party from all sec- the gang of contract killers; and even- they remained potential local threats tions of Kerala society – most promi- tually arrested one of the killers from who could harm the party’s interests in nently, from Achuthanandan, CPI(M) Mysore in neighbouring Karnataka. the region in the long term and per- party workers and sympathisers, Those arrested or taken in for haps be a permanent source of prominent ruling front leaders led by questioning by May 25 also included strength to the forces opposing the of- Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, and CPI(M) area and local committee ficial leadership within the State CPI coalition partners in the opposition members who had allegedly helped the (M). Chandrasekharan had reportedly LDF, including the Communist Party hired killers before and after the deed, even refused the CPI(M) local lead- of India (CPI). those who had identified Chandra- ership’s subsequent “half-hearted” of- People, among them a large num- sekharan for the killers, those who fer of a return to the party fold. ber of his former colleagues in the CPI paid them blood money, those who (M), thronged Chandrasekharan’s fu- helped hide the murder weapons, and DENIAL MODE neral site and condolence meetings. those who helped them find accommo- After the murder, even as RMP leaders The RMP had announced that Chan- dation or escape from the scene of the alleged that there had been about half drasekharan’s family and friends did crime, and so on – initial police find- a dozen attempts on Chandrasekha- not want those who had a role in the ings that, indeed, need to be proved in ran’s life earlier, and his wife described murder to come to his residence to a court of law. to the media how he had been living offer condolences. Leaders of the CPI under the constant fear of death, the refused to be part of the LDF dele- CRITICISM FROM WITHIN official leadership of the CPI(M) went gation led by the CPI(M) that then However, for the State CPI(M) unit, into aggressive denial mode, refuting visited the nearby areas. the most discomforting facet of this allegations that the party had any role A numbed Kerala had no evidence unsavoury turn of events was the un- in the killing. before it to believe that the ghastly usually strong criticism that came North Kerala is not new to political deed was done for anything else other from within the party. At a press con- murders, and there were a large num- than political enmity and seemed wor- ference, Achuthanandan, who every- ber of instances in the past when all the ried about what such a trend, if it was one thought had been effectively major political parties, including the not curbed and the guilty found and sidelined in the State party leadership CPI(M), the Bharatiya Janata Party, punished, portended for the State. after the last party congress, left no one the Congress and the Muslim League, In such a context, it seemed that in doubt that he – as the only surviving and religious fundamentalist organi- the most jarring notes heard after the leader among the 32 founding mem- sations resorted to the murder of op- murder were, unfortunately, the ag- bers of the CPI(M) who had quit the ponents or retaliatory serial killings. gressive statements of the official State (undivided) CPI in 1964 – did not But the sheer brutality of the attack on CPI(M) leadership immediately after agree with Pinarayi Vijayan, especially Chandrasekharan had very few paral- the event and its actions that followed, on his views about a former comrade lels in recent years in the State. including hostile warnings and incon- who was so cruelly done to death. Hired killers, almost all of whom gruous public posturings at several “The party secretary’s opinion need the police were able to identify within a meetings about a “conspiracy to impli- not be the party’s opinion,” Achutha- fortnight, waylaid Chandrasekharan cate the party in the murder” and nandan said, framing his answers in on that fateful night, about four kilo- veiled threats of the dire consequences such a way that it immediately drew a metres from his home at Onchium. that would follow if party workers or comparison between the situation in They ran him down from his bike, leaders were “falsely implicated” in the the State CPI(M) to that which existed threw bombs and attacked him with case. With Pinarayi Vijayan reiterating in the undivided CPI under chairman swords and other weapons in such a his earlier view that Chandrasekharan S.A. Dange. Pointing out that the 32

30 FRONTLINE JUNE 15, 2012 K. RAGESH OPPOSITION LEADER V.S. Achuthanandan offering his last respects to T.P. Chandrasekharan at the Town Hall in Kozhikode on May 5. State Congress president Ramesh Chennithala, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty are beside him. members who later founded the CPI adopted a purely autocratic approach in the party and fought for right party (M) had unitedly walked out of the to negate the views of one-third of the policies.... Colleagues and others who communist party’s National Council council members, after describing expressed opinions about the wrong “expressing their opinions against the them as betrayers of the [working] policies of the party should not have anti-party revisionist policies of chair- class and expelling them from the been dubbed as betrayers and expelled man S.A. Dange”, Achuthanandan party.” from the party. The responsibility of said: “Comrade Dange called us class Referring to the growth of the CPI the leadership is to hold discussions enemies and expelled us from the par- (M) in the 48 years that followed, with such colleagues and take neces- ty. Instead of formulating a united par- Achuthanandan said: “It is a growth sary decisions based on it and thus lead ty line through discussions with made possible by those who organised the party forward unitedly. When the colleagues on policy issues, Dange had the right struggles against the wrongs leadership failed to do it, the comrades

FRONTLINE 31 Politics/Kerala JUNE 15, 2012 who walked out naturally had to form basic pro-people character appeared and a large number of party sympa- a new party.” often as being held to ransom by a thisers and well-wishers through his “More or less similar is the case of spreading culture of arrogance and views expressed in the context of a for- T.P. Chandrasekharan at Onchium,” muscle power and the unseemly com- mer comrade’s untimely death. The Achuthanandan said. “When the party pulsions of a never-ending factional CPI(M)’s Polit Bureau and central refused to hold discussions and did not feud. committee meetings, scheduled on accept their stand [on sharing power The death of Chandrasekharan, June 8 to 10, may not be able to ignore with the JD(S)] in the local [Eramala] Achuthanandan’s controversial press such a curious but familiar political panchayat, they left [the party] in pro- conference on May 12 and a subse- situation that has evolved in the State test. They were dubbed as ‘traitors’ and quent letter he wrote to CPI(M) gen