CPM in Kerala on edge, to face war within

Kozhikode: The CPM state conference in Thrissur will grapple with ideological issues rather than intra-party squabbles. Some of these issues include  individual annihilation of party foes, nurturing children on party lines and  neo-liberal influence on party workers.

The murder of Congress worker S.P. Shuhaib in Kannur has put CPM Kannur district secretary P. Jayarajan on the defensive while CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan will have to answer a lot of questions in connection with the multi-crore overseas deals of his son Binoy.

There will be threadbare discussion on  the policy of ‘individual annihilation of political enemies’ followed by the CPM so far,  particularly in Kannur. The party first denies the charges and later when the cadres are arrested go for massive fund collection to wage legal battles.   Though the CPM state leadership in general and chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan have  been quite unhappy with the killings in Kannur,  Mr   Jayarajan has been protecting those who engage in violence.  

He was  selected to lead the party for a third term recently proving his dominance in the party district unit. In the case of Mr Kodiyeri Balakrishnan,  the   state committee did not seriously discuss the controversy around his sons.  With the strong backing of Mr Pinarayi Vijayan and considerable support in the central committee and politburo, his position remains safe.      

But many party workers and lower-level leaders     believe that Mr Kodiyeri’s continuation as  party chief would demoralise the cadres.  “Rather than the battle with party foes, the war within is more important,”  said a delegate.  “Each comrade wages a war within his family as well as within his party unit against revisionist forces which try to dilute even the ideological basis of the  cadre,”  he said. 

“A party cadre should be simple in life,  should send his progeny to  government or aided schools,  guide his family members in tune with the party lines and  maintain integrity, decorum and transparency in personal life.  These elements  make all the difference between CPM cadres and workers of other parties,”  he added.

“If Kodiyeri continues as party chief,  each party member will have to face voices of dissent in party units as well as from his own family, citing it as the Kodiyeri line,” he pointed out.   

However, this party state conference will see chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan emerge as the unchallenged leader of the party with the VS faction reduced to a non-entity and VS himself  struggling to maintain his revolutionary image.