CPM trains cadres to eliminate opponents,Within and Without

Thiruvananthapuram: With an eye to crush its opponents, particularly the proponents of Hindutva, the CPM in Kerala have started physical training camps for its cadres in many districts of the State…. The promoters of the camp are the official faction of the party led by its state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and surprisingly the targets are not only members of RSS and affiliated organisations but also cadres of other political parties and local leaders of the Achutanandan faction within the CPM. The intellectuals associated with the Pinarayi faction are of the opinion that this is a major move to keep the opponents at bay.

Recently this was successfully tested at Mararikulam, the home turf of the Chief Minister when a group of his supporters arranged a protest march in the town against the disciplinary action on 26 of its members including two District Committee members in the guise of anti party activities. Official group has formed squads under the control of local committees that are controlled by the Pinarayi faction and these squads had suppressed the protest march of VS group by physically assaulting them. Even media persons were subject to their attacks.

The interesting aspect is that none from either the District committee or the area committee enquired into the complaints raised by the VS faction and even the media persons who were brutally attacked. A district level leader of the CPI-M who belongs to the VS faction said that the district committee directly controlled these attacks conducted by the squads.

These squads were responsible for the killings of several RSS/BJP/Hindu activists in different parts of the State. They even joined hands with Muslim outfits to attack RSS and its leaders. Since coming to power in the State, the party had successfully tested this methodology to crush it opponents in several parts of the State. Being in control of the State police, the party finds it easy to annihilate its opponents. Sources told that selected district committee members are monitoring the activities of these squads. In several places the squads are under the direct control of SFI and DYFI leaders owing allegiance to the Pinarayi faction.

Another major activity of the squad is to revive the former Communist style of spying and to find and report the decisions of other political parties, leaders and cadres.

Initially their major mission is to spy and after that to diffuse the growing feeling in favour of Achutanandan in the party. Some senior leaders of the Pinarayi faction are putting their head together to extend the squad activities through out the state. There is a feeling among the official faction that with the court verdict in the SNC Lavelin case coming against Pinarayi there would be a deliberate attempt on the part of the VS faction to raise the issue of corruption in all the party meetings through out the state. In the party branch conferences, which are starting by May the issue of corruption, would be a major factor raised by the VS faction with the backlash received by the party in the SNC Lavelin as the major subject.

The prime reason of forming the hit squads is its successful implementation in Kannur district, the native place of Pinarayi Vijayan, where the party had succeeded in forming party villages where no other political party is not only allowed to function but also denied their right to exercise their franchise. The CPM believes that muscle power can help them in gagging the voices of not only their political opponents but also the VS faction. However sane voices have cautioned the CPM leaders that taking law and order into the cadres’ hands during the left rule has always been the undoing for the party. This section has also said that the left front has always lost elections mainly owing to the cadres taking law into their own hands.