By Sanu George Thiruvananthapuram 9 August : The Kerala CPI’s decision of electing an entirely new leader has triggered speculation that the party may lose its luster in the state’s politics.
It was known as a second fiddle to the CPI-M’s big brother, CPI was a thorn in the side of CPI-M.
CPI was once headed by stalwarts, such as C.Achutha Menon, the visionary Chief Minister, who was recognized for his work in establishing many institutions during his tenure in the late 60s and 70s.There were others too, like N.E.Balaram, M.N.Govindan Nair, T.V.Thomas, P.K.Vasudevan Nair, P.S.Sreenivasan Veliyem Bharghavan, and C.K.Chandrappan.
An analyst in the field of politics on an ad hoc basis of anonymity said that due to these stalwarts, the kind of bull-dozing that is practiced by chief ministers such as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vjayan was unheard of in the past.
The last time there was resistance was under the direction of those such as Bharghavan and Chandrappan and the decline began following the the former Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha member Paniyan Ravindran assumed the presidency in 2012.The party appears to be the weakest under the current secretary Kanam Rajendran, who has served two terms after taking the reins from Ravindran in the year 2015.
There’s no way to compare old-fashioned CPI leaders and the current leaders.
“The Present day CPI is living in the glory of the past as while CPI was for a long time the second largest allies of the Left, the excellence of the leadership of their party, despite having fewer legislators, helped them maintain their high standing in the past.
The final of the high-quality of their Ministers included V.V.Raghavan as well as E.Chandrasekheran Nair.Then it was more of rhetoric,” said the analyst.
“If Rajendran’s achievements are to be contrasted with his legendary predecessors, it’s not comparable.
This was clearer during the current district committee meetings.During these meetings, he was criticized for simply giving in to Vijayan.
However, with Vijayan’s abrasive personality it is not a good idea in making any effort to fight back and therefore Rajendran can’t be held responsible,” added the analyst.
All eyes are now on the upcoming conference, when it decides on its new leaders and the hopes are being placed on the next generation of youth leaders.
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