As you point fingers at Hindutva-wadi politics, why whitewash communist brutalities in Kerala?

By Vineetha Menon

Recently Malayalis were greeted with the news of the cold-blooded murder of Sujith, a native of Kannur. The murder was committed allegedly by members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). And then, running side by side was an article by Nivedita Menon, a feminist, scholar and professor of political thought at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, which desperately tried to downplay Left brutalities. While rambling on about the various scenarios in Delhi and Hyderabad, Nivedita seems to have conveniently forgotten her home state Kerala, which is a known Communist-Left citadel. And needless to say, Left-sponsored violence and brutalities have been incorporated well into Kerala’s fabric. I wish to take Nivedita on a brief expedition to Kerala and its campuses, which have been Left strongholds.

When Communism staked its claim in the state in 1957, the party ensured that Kerala stands at the forefront, when it comes to stocktaking of India’s political murders. Members of the political party have mercilessly targeted political opponents and conveniently done away with them. Adding to this has been the continuous infighting among various Left factions, which has again contributed to the butchery. Concurrent with the ideology of violence and carnage promoted by the Left, the ‘freedom of expression’ so vocalized by Nivedita and ‘enjoyed’ on campuses of Kerala’s educational institutions is also well known. A brief perusal of the campus politics of Kerala will easily expose how numerous ABVP students have fallen victim to the Left’s violent actions.

Clubbed with anti-national students’ groups and backed by religious fundamentalist organizations, Kerala’s college campuses have seen how Durgadas PS, Anu, Sujith, Kim Karunakaran, Bimbi, Muruganandan, Vishal, Sachin Gopal and many more associated with ABVP were systematically done away with. In fact, the incident involving Anu, Sujith and Kim Karunakaran stands unparalleled in the history of campus politics. The students of Parumala College were hounded by a brutal SFI outlaw. Fearing for their life, the boys jumped into river Pampa, hoping to swim to safer shores. However, the ‘idealist’ gang members’ pelted the boys with stones as they swam, which resulted in their death. The murders of some of these students have been most gruesome. This is a sole prerogative of Kerala’s campuses, something never ever witnessed in other educational campuses in India.

Leave aside campus murders, the way Left political organizations treat those imparting education to students in schools and colleges, can best be judged from the ghastly murder of Jayakrishnan Master, who was vice-president of Yuva Morcha in Kerala. Isn’t it a sheer criminal and bestial mindset of the ruling Marxist party members, to hack to death an educator, right in front of innocent students as young as nine and ten years of age, just because he chose to stand with a nationalist party? Maybe all these are part of the “collective responsibility to continue to be self-critical, recognise the institutionalised ways” which Nivedita is talking about, in order to discern how “oppression is entrenched in our universities”- the Left way, of course and Nivedita’s zeal for recognizing “that democratisation is a continuing process, a horizon never to be reached”.

For Left supported students’ unions, the suicide of Rohith Vemula seems to be a trump card, which is waved frequently these days. Far from any genuine feelings, Rohith’s suicide has been highlighted to display the Left’s “undying love for Dalits and their suppressed cries”. Returning to Kerala, home to Dalit atrocities that took place during the Communist regime- one need not venture into a bygone era, but just go back to 2010, when Karakkadan Vineesh, a Dalit youth was murdered by the LDF, which was then in power. Vineesh was murdered, with his dead body left hanging, a way described even by mainstream national media as ‘Taliban model execution’. Even with the ample professing of Dalit love by ruling Marxists, Vineesh’s family continues to fight for justice. Heard of Deepa Mohandas, Nivedita? Not likely! She was a PhD scholar from the Dalit community, who was subjected to ample harassment by the Marxist fraternity of the Syndicate of Mahatma Gandhi.  

Then there is Megha, ABVP activist and research scholar of Sree Shankaracharya Sanskrit University, Kalady who was battered by SFI supporters 10 years ago, which left her totally blind in the right eye.

Let us come to the present- last year in 2015, two minor Dalit schoolgirls were gang raped by 11 men in Kerala’s Adoor district. According to police, the girls were “brutally assaulted by the accused persons, their hands were tied and they were starved.” Isn’t this a case of Dalit atrocity? In 2016, a Dalit girl, student of Tripunithura’s RLV College attempted suicide, following mental torture, including public threats, from Left backed SFI leaders. Probably when truth triumphs, Nivedita should explain her own statements calling out for “caste, gender and other forms of oppression”. Incidentally the suicide attempt of the Dalit girl took place a day before Congress scion Rahul Gandhi set foot in Kerala. Wonder where his Dalit love vanished. Or is it selective?

Nivedita spoke of protesting against “Hindutva-wadi politics’ attempts to control the food and dietary habits”, obviously referring to ‘beef’. When Nivedita speaks of ‘violence by ABVP workers during the course of beef festivals’, did she muddle up prepositions? The world knows how Left campus activists unleashed terror upon ABVP workers, under the guise of promoting beef carnivals. To know more, she can step in to Thrissur’s Kerala Varma College and retrieve copies of a few pictures that clearly depict the violence. The principal of Church Mission Society College, Kottayam was roughed up by Left wingers for refusing permission for beef. Need any more evidence to show that campus violence is the hallmark of SFI & Leftists and not the ABVP?

SFI activists have not spared even vice-chancellors of Kerala’s universities, including Dr Vilanilam and Dr VN Rajashekharan Pillai. TP Sreenivasan, Chairman of Education Reformation Committee was manhandled recently. These incidents highlight how shabbily the SFI treats even those in the highest posts of the education sector.

Will Nivedita justify in a similar arrogant fashion, the celebration indulged in, by members of the Democratic Students Union and All India Students Association in 2010, when 76 CRPF personnel were massacred in Chhatisgarh? How will she justify those terrifying shouts of “India Murdabad”, “Maovaad Zindabad”, which rocked the JNU campus then? Now it is “Kashmir Maange Azaadi, Kerala Maange Azaadi...Pakistan Zindabad”. How are the two incidents different? Nivedita must remember that metamorphosing the accused into a victim is an easy task. But it should be backed by solid evidence to make it credible.

Let us again go back to Kerala, when after the gruesome murder of Fazal, Marxists tried to frame the RSS and instigate communal violence. Same was the case, when estranged Marxist leader TP Chandrasekharan was murdered. After all, didn’t Left leader MA Mani openly and boldly declare how Left “has resorted to murders and will continue doing the same”, shaming Kerala nationally?

Rounding off with one of the rules and regulations of ‘Pallikoodam’ a school run by Mary Roy, mother of Arundhati Roy- “the distance between a boy and a girl at all times is to be one meter.” I am still hoping to see an op-ed article on the same by feminist writer Nivedita Menon. Just a reminder on where Kerala’s Left-backed organizers of ‘Kiss-of-Love’, an event which spoke of being progressive, have landed- Rahul Pasupalan and his wife Reshmi Nair were arrested for their alleged involvement in a sex racket. 

Vineetha Menon - The author is a social media activist and 'I Support Namo' team coordinator.

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