New biography of VS reignites controversies in CPI(M)

A new biography of the late communist leader and former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, written by veteran communist leader Pirappancode Murali, has caused some old controversies surrounding the mass leader’s strained relations with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] in the last two decades to resurface.

Mr. Murali, a writer and a former CPI(M) State committee member, borrows some metaphors from the Mahabharata to reaffirm that the 2005 Malappuram State conference of the CPI(M) was a ‘game of deceit’ in which the chakrayudha of factionalism was pioneered against Achuthanandan, as he vowed to fight the “reactionary, corrupt and communal” tendencies that had crept into the party.

Recalling the events of that period primarily with the help of a mix of news reportage and commentary, Mr. Murali argues that the dawn of the millennium also saw the emergence of a young crop of leaders in the CPI(M), many of whom hankered after political power and money, with ideology taking a backseat.

Achuthanandan’s steadfast adherence to the principles of social justice made him a ‘traditionalist’ in their eyes, he reasons in the book titled VS: Communist Manushyavatharam. Sign Books is the publisher. 

Despite being riddled with typographical errors and wrong dates, the biography revisits the turbulent phase of the CPI(M)’s history in the State when the fight between the factions led by the then party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and Opposition leader-turned Chief Minister Achuthanandan cast a shadow over the party, as its central leadership remained either biased or powerless, according to Mr. Murali.

He accuses the CPI(M) of using the Kottayam, Thiruvananthapuram, and Alappuzha State conferences to malign Achuthanandan and diminish his influence.

The organisational report in Kottayam in 2008, he claims, indicted Achuthanandan for conspiracy and anti-party activities, citing the protests across the State for his candidature in the 2006 Assembly polls.

Achuthanandan was then given a chance to explain himself. But a young leader — a “motormouth,” in Mr. Murali’s words — scathingly attacked the veteran for his “anti-party activities,” going to the extent of saying that he deserved “capital punishment” at the party State conference in Thiruvananthapuram in 2012.

While Achuthanandan wasn’t allowed to respond to that at the conference, he gave a fitting response in the public meeting at Chandrasekharan Nair stadium at the close of the conference, writes Mr. Murali.

At the party congress in Kozhikode the same year, a resolution to amend the party constitution was moved by a delegate trusted by the State leadership to impose a ceiling of 80 years for party organisational roles and 75 years for parliamentary roles.

Mr. Murali reads it as an attempt to oust Achuthanandan, then well into his 80s, from the CPI(M) Central Committee. Achuthanandan volunteered to step down despite CC members from States other than Kerala advocating for a special consideration for him. The resolution was subsequently dismissed, Mr. Murali writes in the biography.