Kerala CPI(M)’s Double Standards Exposed

Thiruvananthapuram, 24 October (H.S): The CPI(M) that claims itself as the leader of the renaissance and women?s liberation movements in the State stands exposed with egg on its face as the mother of a newborn child sits in fast in front of the Kerala Secretariat demanding that her child which was kidnapped by the higher-ups in the party be returned to her.

This is an event about which the CPI(M) leaders and the party-sponsored media in the State do not want the outside world to know. Anupama, a beautiful looking teenager from Thiruvananthapuram who is an activist of the CPI(M)-led SFI fell in love with a Dalit youth of 42 years and became pregnant. She was described as the future of the CPI(M) and was rated as the party?s glamour girl.

Anupama is the daughter of Jayachandran, who is the son of Peroorkkada Sadasivan and Lalitha Sadasivan, a well to do Nair couple from the capital city. Though the CPI(M) campaigns for a classless and casteless society, party leaders, especially the Nairs and Namboodiris, are particular about marrying off their children to upper-caste families. Daughters and sons of the party?s late General secretary E M Sankaran Namboothirippadu got married to the scions and baronesses of Nampoothirippadu families.

Thiruvananthapuram district CPI(M) is dominated by Nairs who are proud of their lineage from the Travancore Royal Family. Koliakode Krishnan Nair, P Narayanan Nair (founder of Law Academy) Aanavoor Nagappan Nair, M Vijayakumar are all from families of landlords and zamindars who own hundreds of acres of prime land in the district. When Jayachandran and his wife came to know about their daughter?s love affair with the Dalit Christian youth, they were taken aback and tried their best to discourage and dissuade her from the relation. The youth was already married and had two kids from his first wife.

But Anupama, who was forced to become a rebel because of the lifestyle of her parents was adamant that she would live with the Dalit youth. When she was conceived, the parents got furious and tried to take her to undergo medical termination of pregnancy. But Anupama stood her ground. When she was delivered of a child, the parents tactfully removed the child from her and gave it off in adoption to a family in Andhra Pradesh. All Nair leaders in the CPI(M) were unanimous in their opposition to Anupama delivering the child of a Dalit youth.

Though Anupama gave complaints to the police station, State child welfare commission and even Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, she did not get justice. The all-powerful Nagappan Nair, a feudal Nair Landlord, ensured that the girl did not get justice from the authorities.

This forced Anupama to stage a fast unto death in front of the Secretariat, a venue for all kinds of agitations. While the teenaged mother sits fast in front of the Secretariat, party leaders speak in different voices.

The most notable criticism came from PK Sreemathi, former health minister and former MP who too hails from a Nair family in Malabar. ?I am shocked that the Government could not do anything to help Anupama,? said Sreemathi, a former glamour girl of the CPI(M).

While she was criticizing the Government, she was indirectly lambasting P Satheedevi, chairperson, Kerala State Women’s Commission. Sreemathi has been eying the SWC? chairperson?s chair since it was vacant after the resignation of M C Josephine, notorious for her vicious tongue.

Hari Kartha, the veteran political commentator, told Hindustan Samachar that the sit-in staged by Anupama in front of the Secretariat at Thiruvananathapuram was a blot on the face of Kerala. ?This is another version of honour killing which is happening in some States. Kerala is no different from such States,? said Kartha.

The Dalits in the CPI(M) are always given a raw deal when it comes to the allocation of power and position. K Radhakrishnan, a CPI(M) leader hailing from the Dalit community, who has not lost a single election and who was tipped to be the chief minister of the State was relegated to the position of Social Welfare Minister. Former Chief Minister E K Nayanar stirred a controversy when he addressed M A Kuttappan, a Congress leader by caste name. But as the adage goes, there are separate laws for caste Hindus and Dalits in the CPI(M).