Kerala CPM's unabashed violence and state's inept policing are working to BJP's advantage

It is certainly a make or break situation in Kerala. Never in the history of the state had a chief minister been summoned in person by a governor, to express his apprehension on the deteriorating law and order situation. That this has been done without any existing complaint arising from within the state also speaks of perhaps setting in motion a grand plan, the likes of which had been witnessed across the country with different governors playing second fiddle to an agenda set by the Union government. Perhaps there is still time for such a scenario to unravel in Kerala. But certainly, if the course seems to be set towards that direction egged on by the present bout of political violence that has gripped the state capital, then undoubtedly it is the political bloodshed unleashed by the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPM) coupled with the state’s inefficiency to quell the violence that is primarily at fault. [caption id=“attachment_3784371” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. PTI[/caption] The present stalemate arose after the state committee office of the BJP was attacked by a CPM councillor. The attack itself was caught on camera followed by the hacking to death of an RSS Karyavah – both happening inside 48 hours at Thiruvananthapuram. Political pundits say that while the BJP, having nothing to lose, is expected to behave in a certain manner befitting its political gains, the ruling party and its state machinery should have been more restrained and responsible in tackling the politically volatile situation. “By unleashing the party cadre on the streets, the CPM has certainly done a grave mistake here. CPM seems to have completely forgotten that they are the party in power and that any break down in law and order will only affect them the most and not the BJP. What was needed was more political maturity which is so shockingly nowhere to be seen,’’ Sunnykutty Abraham, a senior journalist based in Thiruvananthapuram told Firstpost. Undoubtedly the BJP, which is trying hard to get a foothold in one of its final frontiers in the southern part of the country, will do everything possible to gain an upper hand including fishing in troubled waters. But by answering the call of the saffron party with ‘a tooth for a tooth and an eye for an eye’ strategy, the CPM has only succeeded in playing into their hands, something that the party had done with the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and ended up paying a heavy price for. Many even suspect that the top brass of the CPM is perhaps unable to restrain its cadre, which explains the brashness the party had been showing in dealing with a number of issues. “There is a severe inability creeping into this party where the top leadership is unable to control the lower rung. This lower cadre is easily falling into the game plan of the BJP and resort to large scale violence when challenged. Otherwise, how would you explain a CPM councillor himself leading the attack on the BJP office in the heart of the city? The BJP is playing a very shrewd political game and the CPM is completely falling for it,’’ CR Neelakandan, noted political activist told Firstpost. Kannur model at Thiruvananthapuram? That the CPM and the BJP-RSS combine had been engaged in a bitter power struggle in Kannur is a well-known fact, the reverberations of which had even been felt even in Delhi when the Sangh Parivar occasionally raids the AKG Bhavan in reaction to the Kannur killings. But what sets apart the present string of violence is its extension down south into the heart of the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram, something that was unheard of till the present Pinarayi Vijayan government came into power in Kerala.

The BJP claims that it is undoubtedly the Kannur model that is at play in Thiruvananthapuram. They put the onus on the chief minister and his coterie of political advisors, the strongest of whom hails from Kannur and is an open proponent of Kannur’s violent politics.

“Look at what has been happening in Thiruvananthapuram, which was otherwise been a fairly peaceful place. Our offices have been attacked at night when the party president was sleeping inside. An RSS worker has been slaughtered in the most inhumane way. If this is not Kannur model of politics, then what is it?’’ asks BJP state spokesperson MS Kumar. Perhaps the BJP has a point when they draw these similarities. In 2012, Kannur was rocked by the gruesome killing of TP Chandrasekharan, a CPM defector who had formed his own party in CPM’s backyard. The manner of Chandrasekharan’s killing, its execution and the post murder denial by the party has striking similarities with the murder of Rajesh, an RSS Karyvah who was hacked to death on Saturday. The police’s FIR clearly calls it a political murder performed by the DYFI, the youth wing of the CPM. The FIR states that it was the long standing local political rivalry between the DYFI and the BJP at Sreekaryam, a locality inside the city, that led to the killing of the RSS Karyvah who had been helping the BJP set itself up in the locality. “Sporadic violence has happened here also in the past. But such well planned political murders are something Thiruvananthapuram has never seen before. See everyone knows that the CPM has well-trained cadre in Kannur who go out and kill political opponents with the party’s blessings. But that was not there for the party in Thiruvananthapuram, where they had to depend on hired goons till recent past. This is what has changed as most of these goons are now party workers. This is the Kannur model that has hit the capital city now,’’ KVS Haridas, a veteran journalist, told Firstpost. The CPM meanwhile continues to be in denial mode. “No one in the party has anything to do with the murder. All those suspects who have been nabbed by the police have different political affiliations. How can you put the blame on the CPM for this?’’ said CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who continued to ask this question till the police FIR busted his claim. With the state governor breathing down the government’s neck and a pro-active Union government looking down with a hawkish eye, it was only understandable for the CPM to downplay the murder as personal vengeance. But what continues to baffle many is the party’s stand when it comes to not fathoming the BJP game plan in its entirety. Did the governor exceed his brief? For a state that has only seen President’s rule imposed once in 1959 during the term of EMS Namboodiripad, apart from the Emergency, Sunday’s events were certainly worrisome. It is here that constitutional experts say that the governor, P Sathasivam, had perhaps exceeded his brief in calling the chief minister to the Raj Bhavan, certainly setting an unhealthy precedent for the state. Advocate Kaleeswaram Raj, a leading lawyer at the Kerala High Court who is also an expert on constitutional matters, points out that what perhaps warranted seeking only a report from the government was blown out of proportions by the governor’s office. No doubt, the situation in the state capital had become a cause of worry, but by no stretch of the imagination had there been a complete breakdown of law and order – which would warrant a constitutional head to intervene suo motu. “See the governor acting as super body above the democratically elected state cabinet is certainly not in line with Article 163 of the Constitution of India. It is very clear that it is the chief minister and the council of ministers who have to aid and advise the governor and not the other way round. The governor can ask for a report but his discretionary powers are very much limited. Here, no such situation prevails which means the governor had acted in excess of his authority,’’ Raj told Firstpost. Legal experts also point out that since the law and order certainly come under the state subject, any such move by the governor should have been dealt with more caution which otherwise will have a far reaching implication on the already fragile federal system in the country. But political observers who know the Kerala governor will say a different story. They opine that Sathasivam’s action has reflected the alarmingly degrading situation on the ground and being in the state capital it was more or less expected for him to intervene. Sathasivam, who himself was a Chief Justice of the country is no alien to the Constitutional provisions and by summoning the chief minister, he was only perhaps sending across a genuine concern than upping the political heat that the state government was already facing at that moment. “We have seen many governors who act as a puppet in the hands of the central government. But I would not consider Sathasivam one among those. He is obviously a representative of the Union but not many people would believe that he is among those who would play politics in such a situation. I feel he was genuinely concerned about the turn of events at Thiruvananthapuram,’’ added CR Neelakandan.

While the state is divided over what the governor should and should not have done, it is very clear that Sathasivam had specific directions from the Central Home Ministry to intervene in the situation, something which the governor himself tweeted about.

It is also beyond any doubt that what stepped up the governor’s curiosity was the phone call that he received from Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday morning, which pushed him to take the unprecedented step of calling the chief minister to his residence. That the governor then went on to tweet all this also goes on to show that the Union government wants to send out a strong message to the voters in Kerala that if needed the BJP government in Delhi would not shy away from intervening in the state and the governor’s office was no doubt taking the role of a messenger in this. That the BJP had met the governor in January, when the violence had peaked across the state with the party calling for the intervention of the Central government, only makes this script larger and stronger against the state government. Many political analysts feel that the suo motu interference of the governor is also perhaps an indication that he has moved on from the last time – when the BJP’s complaint was only forwarded to the chief minister’s office, much to the chagrin of the BJP which then cried hoarse over the governor’s action. The present act is hence a much sterner message to the Vijayan government that the Modi government is keenly watching the situation in the state. The state government and the ruling CPM would do a lot of good if these early warning signs are taken seriously and reign in a warring cadre.