On a moral and ethical level, it is not at all good to seek any benefit
from a tragic incident, as gruesome as the murder of TP Chandrasekharan. But on a practical and philosophical level
it is imperative that we seek positive outcomes from any adversity and TP murder
should be no exception.
The investigation so far is reiterating the popular belief that this
murder was political and carried out at the behest of Communist Party of India
-Marxist (CPM). Such political murders
are anything but new in those parts of Kerala.
However, the manner in which this murder of an upcoming popular leader
was conducted, wherein there were as many as 51 cuts on his face and head
alone, left a very bad taste in the
psyche of common people. The arrogant and
distasteful reactions from the official leadership of CPM only exacerbated those
feelings.
Barring the eternal rebel VS Achudanathan, the entire official
leadership of CPM challenged the popular belief that TP was murdered by his
erstwhile colleagues in CPM. CPM leaders,
especially those belonging to the infamous Kannur Lobby were quick to explain
that the murder had nothing to do with CPM or its cadres and in fact the
Secretary of Kannur District Committee even named Mr PC George, the Chief Whip
of Kerala assembly, as the brain behind the conspiracy and murder! Later the accusations kept changing from religious
fanatics to mysterious businessmen to Congress scripts etc. However, the media attention and the public
perception refused to die down in this case, unlike in the precious instances
of similar murder. The pressure on Party was only increased by VS’s occasional verbal firings aimed at Kannur Lobby.
Usually when a political murder takes place in Malabar, the leadership
of accused Party gives a list of its workers whom Police charge with the
offence of murder. They either get absolved of the charges for want of evidence
or get protected inside the jail by party machinery. Their families are looked after by the Party
outside the jail. The real killers, who
are the prized assets of the parties, are not exposed to any
investigation. Also at no time, the
inquiry or public opinion leads to the leaders of the respective parties. TP murder was an exception. The inquiry soon pointed to involvement of
important leaders of CPM and some of them were even arrested and remanded.
Day by day, it was becoming difficult for the leadership of CPM to hold
on to their theory of innocence. Impending
Neyyattinkara By-election only contributed to their discomfort. VS was tightening the screws on the
leadership. In the typical VS style, he
managed to put entire blame on the Kannur Lobby and was getting ready to once again
become a hero for the gullible public of Kerala.
People like me who are very
concerned and disturbed about the frequent political murders taking place in
the Malabar area in particular were hopeful that the unprecedented public
opinion and media attention on the TP murder might lead to a very positive
outcome- the unearthing of conspiracy and party leaders’ role in a murder. Most people believe that only when the
powerful leaders behind conspiracy are brought to book these murders will end
in Malabar (For
more on the TP murder please read my post “Yet Another Political Murder and
Some 'Reactionary' Thoughts”).
Mani Enters the Scene
That was when the powerful Secretary of Idukki district committee of
CPM, Mr MM Mani, blasted an atom bomb. In a public meeting, while explaining to
the workers that CPM was not involved in TP murder, he claimed that murdering
political opponents was nothing new for CPM and they have no problem in owning
it up whenever they do it. As an example
of this ‘transparency’ of CPM, he mentioned three killings of Congress workers
in early 1980s, wherein he claimed that these were the first 3 people from a
list of 13 Congress workers who tried to create an INTUC trade union and were marked by CPM for
elimination. He went on to describe graphically how each of these was killed. “First
was shot dead, second was beaten to death and third was stabbed to death” thundered
Mr Mani.
The speech, which was recorded on camera by a local Cable TV channel,
came to light by next day and it was all over the news media of Kerala. Since the recordings of the speech were being
aired there was no way to deny the speech.
Mani was interviewed by journalists and he told them that he stood by his
speech. However, admittedly there was
pressure from party leadership and he was forced to issue a press note, expressing
regret for his speech. Please note that
he did not correct or deny any facts but only regretted having spoken in a
manner that led to ‘misunderstandings’ about the Party!
Why this Kolaveri, Mani?
Mani is no minion in CPM or Kerala politics. He started out as VS’s favourite in the
faction wars of CPM. However, as Pinarayi Vijayan (PV) got control over the
party apparatus Mani changed his loyalties and became a prominent member of PV
camp. He successfully took on VS, when the
latter tried to evict the land grabbers of Munnar, a prominent tourist
destination of kerala and Mani’s area of action.
While he is known for his irreverent style of speaking, no one expected
him to be foolish enough to admit to murders in public, that too when his party
was on the defensive on this very issue.
Even PV, the State Secretary did not deny what Mani said. He only censured Mani for deviating from the
Party line in speaking about these murders! Pinarayi chose not to deny categorically any
role of the Party in those murders.
Was it an innocent slip of tongue by an old man? I do not think so. I strongly believe that Mani was out on a
mission to save his beleaguered leader and the Kannur lobby. Mani knows if they could get away in the
initial murder probe, it is very difficult at this later stage to collect
enough evidence to punish him or anyone else for those murders. He may undergo
some difficulty in the short run. But
eventually he will escape from any serious consequences.
Then what is the aim of this outburst? Well, I believe that it was consciously done
with two clear objectives in mind.
Checkmate VS
Firstly, it checkmates VS Achudanathan, who was the State Secretary at
the time of those murders. VS cannot absolve
himself from the liability for Party preparing a list of people to be killed
and then executing it, while he was in charge. In other words, if Pinarayi is responsible for
TP’s murder (as accused by VS) then VS is responsible for many more murders
committed during his watch! If the re-investigation
into these murders proceeds further, VS may even have to be questioned by the
Police.
It may be pertinent to note that, in the very same speech Mani had
blamed VS in such stringent language that is unusual for a CPM leader while he
is talking about a senior leader from the Party.
Divert attention
Second objective is to divert attention from TP murder case. If you look at the Malayalam News Papers, you
can see that diversion of focus from TP murder has already happened. Everyone is talking about Mani and his speech.
As we already noted, that damages VS more than PV. When the attention is shifted, the heat is likely
to be off the leaders who were directly involved in TP murder and hopefully
police will go slow and let them off the hook!
There are enough friends of PV in the UDF government and Kerala Police who
will be more than willing to oblige him in such a tight situation.
Conclusion
CPM has never been in such a bad light in Kerala. The challenge this time is not limited from
public opinion alone. Cadres are seen
openly challenging the party by participating in public functions organised to commemorate
TP. VS will have to be tackled as soon
as the by-election is over. Political
pundits are even predicting a split in the Party.
Under these circumstances, the two objectives above are critical for the
very survival of CPM in Kerala. Mani
seems to have, like a true loyal cadre, sacrificed himself to save his Party. Mark my words; he will come back a winner in
this whole episode.
The losers will be people of Kerala, and particularly of Malabar, if
the conspirators of TP murder manages to get off the hook! We should not let the possible positive outcomes of the TP's murder be lost to a political gimmickry from a shrewd politician like Mani. Therefore, it is imperative for the media and
public to understand these political games and keep the pressure on for a free,
fair and efficient investigation in the TP murder case.