TP Chandrasekharan murder: CPM has lost the plot in Kerala

The conviction of three local CPM leaders in the sensational TP Chandrasekharan murder case along with a seven-member contract killer gang is likely to hurt the Left Front’s prospects in the Lok Sabha elections even as the party leadership sought to find refuge in the acquittal of another of its leaders. Right from the beginning, the needle of suspicion in the case had been on the CPM because the victim, a former party member who defied the leadership and formed a formidable alternative communist party in his locality in Kozhikkode district, had been openly threatened by its local leaders and had himself conveyed to his associates and the state government that he was likely to be killed. The CPM not only disassociated itself from the murder, it also tried to suggest a conspiracy theory involving a businessman. Several of the party’s local leaders and functionaries had been arrested in the case. Many of them had been absolved from the case during the trial while a few of them were jailed till the verdict today. In the final verdict, although the most prominent among them - the husband of an MLA - had been acquitted, three of them were found guilty. [caption id=“attachment_1353397” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AFP[/caption] So, the verdict unequivocally establishes that the CPM did have a role in the murder contrary to its stoic claims. What the party can at best argue is that the state or district leaderships were not aware of the alleged involvement of its local leaders or that they had been framed for political gains. In such a case, that question that it will find difficult to answer is how the same verdict acquitted other party leaders. The biggest threat to the party’s credibility on the case will come from its permanent internal dissident - former chief minister and veteran leader VS Achuthanandan. While the party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan told the media in Delhi that the verdict cleared the party of the allegations of complicity, Achuthanandan refused to accept the clean chit. He said he would give his opinion on the matter after studying the court order. The man who otherwise is effusive in his opinions said the party would respond on the conviction of its functionaries. There is certainly an erosion of support to the CPM in the state. On Tuesday, a Lokniti-IBN National Tracker poll showed that the voteshare of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by the party has eroded by nine percent compared to 2009. Even with considerable scope for anti-incumbency sentiments against the Congress-led UDF (United Democratic Front) government, the LDF’s voteshare slipped from 42 per cent in 2009 to 32 in 2014. The UDF’s voteshare, despite the series of scandals that hit the Oomen Chandy government and endemic internal fight within the Front and the Congress party, rose to 51 per cent from 48. What’s striking is the gain of the BJP and the AAP at the cost of the CPM. BJP, which had a meagre six per cent voteshare in 2009 now has risen to a formidable 20 percent, while debutant AAP has about 15 percent. Nowhere in the south, is the AAP projected to do so well. Besides events such as the murder of TP Chandrasekharan, senior party leaders have also been in the dock for public display of intolerance and muscle, alleged proximity to corrupt businessmen - some with criminal cases - and its inability to undertake genuine class struggles. Most of its agitations against Oomen Chandy ended as damb squibs while the party played no role in successful agitations such as the nurses strike. What should worry the CPM is not only the erosion of its voteshare and the suspicion against it, but the increasing acceptance of Oomen Chandy as indicated by the Lokmat-IBN Tracker poll. Fifty seven percent of the respondents of the poll said that they were happy with Chandy. This was the same chief minister that the CPM and the LDF tried to immobilise and remove from power through various forms of blockade. Looks like people liked him while the CPM wanted his scalp. Unsurprisingly, the agitations by the party against him failed sooner rather than later. Justifiably, Left leaning political observers critical of the CPM said on Tuesday that the verdict should make the party introspect and cleanse itself given that it has an incredible history and an impressive array of leaders who are exceptionally good. The party’s decline will not only rob the state of its Left politics, but will also help the growth of communal forces. The state has been a great beneficiary of its intense polarisation since it kept the patently communal parties at bay. Unfortunately, the Left, particularly the CPM, seems to be giving it all away.