The Congress and the CPM is in loggerheads in Kerala with CPM CM Pinarayi Vijayan and KPCC President, Sudhakaran calling each other vilest of names and also accusing each other of kidnapping and murder.

The slew of accusations and counter accusations began when Sudhakaran in an interview to a vernacular weekly said that Pinarayi Vijayan was the prime accused in the murder of Vaadikkal Ramakrishnan, a RSS leader and also in the murder of a person by name Babu.

Following which Vijayan on Friday during a media briefing on Covid-19 status as reported by senior journalist Kumar Chellappan in the Daily Pioneer, accused Sudhakaran of conspiring to kidnap his children many years ago. He even called the Sudhakaran a mafia don and alleged, “It was the timely information provided by a close associate of Sudhakaran that saved my children,”

Pinarayi Vijayan went to the extant of calling the new KPCC head a ‘political criminal’ and close associate of the Sangh Parivar. On Saturday, Sudhakaran retaliated against Pinarauyi Vijayan in a press conference by giving more details about Pinarayi Vijayan’s connections with RSS leader, Ramakrishnan’s murder case and Babu’s murder case. Sudhakaran said that Vijayan escaped the long hand of law in Ramakrishnan’s murder case merely because no one dared to give testimony against him.

Sudhakaran reportedly stated, “Vijayan was the person who murdered Ramakrishnan. Since no witnesses came forward to testify against him, he was given the benefit of doubt and was acquitted.” He further accused Vijayan of being involved in the murder of his own personal bodyguard, Babu. Sudhakaran said, “Though Babu was a close associate of Vijayan, they fell apart and the murder was the fall out of the parting of ways”.

Sudhakaran also presented in the press conference a former Beedi worker Kandoth Gopi, who claimed to be a victim of an armed assault led by Vijayan himself. Gopi alleged, “During the emergency days, I was leading an agitation against the management of a beedi company for its decision to terminate the services of some workers. Vijayan with a group of armed Marxist leaders attacked me and I had a providential escape.”

Congress leaders like Oommen Chandi and Ramesh Chennithala criticised the low level of discourse between the two leaders, leading people to sense that there are many factions within the Congress working against the current KPCC chief, Sudhakaran.

While, BJP MP and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, V. Muraleedharan reportedly called both CPI(M) and Congress political criminals. The Vijayan government as punishment for the Union Minister’s statement, swiftly withdrew the state police security provided to him by claiming that since he is ascribed Y category for security, the state administration is not bound to provide him any security.

Political accusations apart, it is a well known fact that the Left party has always been seeped in political violence with a penchant to exterminate all political and ideological opponents under the garb of ‘class wars’. Pinarayi Vijayan was very famous for his strong arm tactics and muscle man image with several accusations of assault against him. It is also true that the first political murder in the state of Kerala in independent India began with the murder of RSS leader Ramakrishnan by the CPI(M) members and Pinarayi Vijayan was the prime accused in the case.

The culture of political violence and bloodshed perfected by the Left in West Bengal has now been taken over by the Trinamool Congress after the Left was trounced by the TMC in Bengal in 2011.

News input: The Daily Pioneer

Image sourced from internet.

DISCLAIMER: The author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this article. The author carries the responsibility for citing and/or licensing of images utilized within the text.