The CPI (M) party secretariat in a statement criticised the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) for reinstating Dileep, and said that the decision was wrong.
AMMA had earlier this week decided to reinstate actor Dileep, even though he was chargesheeted as accused number eight in a case of kidnap and sexual assault of a female actor in February 2017.
Days after pressure mounted on AMMA to revoke their decision, the CPI (M) on Friday said that AMMA should have avoided this action, that portrayed it as an organisation taking an anti-women stance.
'As an organisation which should be cautious about safety of women, the move to reinstate Dileep has led to critisism against the organisation, and has thereby tainted it's image as a body that is supposed to ensure the safety of women.
Everyone is committed to respect the emotion of a woman who was subjected to a heinous crime and that representatives of AMMA shall realise the social consequences and take appropriate decision', CPI (M) said.
Party goes soft on its own
Even as CPI (M) has come down heavily on AMMA's decision, it has also tried to down-play the allegations against its own MLAs, who were also instrumental in taking the decision.
Kollam MLA Mukesh and Pathanapuram MLA Ganesh Kumar are executive members of AMMA and were part of the meeting that decided to reinstate Dileep. In fact Mukesh is the vice president of AMMA. Despite other political leaders and even Brinda Karat demanding that the Left MLAs must make their stance clear, the party seems to be trying to protect their MLAs from public ire.In the statement, CPI (M) said that vested interests were deliberately isolating and targeting the left MLAs, who are members of AMMA.
"One should not react to AMMA, by taking into consideration, the political leanings of its members. Whatever field it may be, the Left strongly believes that women should be given due respect. This is also why the LDF government has taken an unbiased and just stand in the case of the woman actor's abduction. Since the general public is aware of this, efforts by some to criticise the Left will not be successful," the party said.
Party also added that it hopes AMMA will rise to be an organisation that will help develop cinema.
The two Left MLAs in AMMA
Mukesh and Ganesh. Their names rhyme and have reasons to keep coming together in media reports.
They are both actors, nearly of the same generation and they are both children of famous fathers.
But what brings them together these days is that they are both politicians who have not been at their best behaviours.
A year ago both of them stood up and reacted angrily to journalists asking about Dileep, who was then being questioned by the police in the actor-assault case. Innocent, another actor-politician and then the president of AMMA, had to apologise for Mukesh and Ganesh.
Mukesh had even earlier been known for his bad temper when he abused a fan who called late night. The audio clip had gone viral.
And then Ganesh spoke again for Dileep when he claimed it was possibly the pressure from actor Prithviraj that forced the former's expulsion.
With the CPI(M) now unwilling to ask it's MLAs for accountability, it remains to be seen if Mukesh and Ganesh change their stance owing to public pressure.
FEFKA assures it is with the survivor
Dileep was suspended from Film Employees Federation of Kerala (FEFKA) in July last year, after he was arrested and named accused in the abduction and sexual assault of a woman actor.
FEFKA assured on Friday, that they continue to stand with the survivor.
After a meeting of FEFKA in Kochi, its general secretary and director B Unnikrishnan told media persons that Dileep's removal from the organisation still stands.
"Dileep will not be reinstated, before he gets his name cleared before the court of law. Our stance of this matter has not changed at all. We have been saying that we support the woman survivor and there is absolutely no change in that stance," Unnikrishnan said.
The meeting also discussed the matter of director Aashiq Abu coming down heavily against the 'mafia like hold' of organisations including FEFKA.
He had on Thursday put up a Facebook post in which he said that people including FEFKA's Unnikrishnan favours Dileep.
FEFKA representative Renji Panicker said that they discussed this issue and added that Aashiq Abu continues to be a member of the organisation.