THE CURIOUS CASE OF COMRADE VS

In the legions of Communist struggles, the one revolt which is always cited in almost ‘halo’ey terms is the Punnapra Vayalar agitation of 1946. Almost a 1000 Communist party workers fought a bloody battle with the police on the picturesque beaches of Punnapra. Among them was a young 22 year old, coir factory worker. Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan. It was the first anti-burgeois battle that he fought. Over the years, he has fought a thousand more.

Today VS Achuthanandan or Comrade VS as he’s fondly called is one of the stalwarts of the Communist movement in Kerala. He’s also an isolated man. His party, the CPI(M), of which he is one of the founding fathers, has decided to dump him. The oldest member of the party’s highest decision making body, the Politburo, no longer has a place in this esteemed club. He has been ‘disciplined’, almost as if VS were a 22 year old rebel. You don’t ‘discipline’ an 83 year old veteran.

When VS along with fellow comrades blew up the Mayithara bridge in Mararikulam, his hometown, it was one of the most fervent challenges to the then Dewan of Travancore, the legendary Sir CP Ramaswamy Aiyar. Prakash Karat wasn’t even born then. Today, 61 year old Karat, guided by pelfs and pimps, has decided to dump the 83 year old VS.

Not that VS is not used to such ham-handed behaviour by the high command. The legendary EMS had censured VS because he offered to donate blood to Indian soldiers in the Indo-China war of 1962. For the Comrades, defying China was sacrilege.

VS’ luck has been awful at times. If he had his way, he should’ve been Chief Minister back in 1996. The party had won a decisive victory. VS was the state secretary and the man tipped for the top job. Unfortunately he lost from his hometown of Mararikulam, for the first time since 1967. He was done in by his own detractors within the party. VS had to make way for EK Nayanar. Five years later he won a handsome victory from Malampuzha. His party though bit the dust.

For the next five years, as Leader of the Opposition, he was at the helm of every major people’s agitation. From Muthanga to Plachimada to Idukki, if there was a people’s cause, VS was always there at the forefront. Come the next election in 2006, he was the most eligible claimant for the Chief Minister’s chair. Unfortunately his party let him down once again.

Once again Prakash Karat, guided by power mongerers decided not to give a ticket to VS. There was a people’s revolt. Something the Communists had never witnessed before. At virtually every street corner, a VS cutout or a VS poster sprang up. The iron-fisted theorists sitting in AKG Bhavan were hit by a tsunami of people’s power. For the first time, the Polit Buro had to reverse a decision, under popular pressure. VS got a ticket. The LDF won and VS became Chief Minister.

But the same sharks and savagers wouldn’t let go. For three years and some months now, they’ve made life hell for VS. He was Chief Minister only on paper. The real power lay in the corridors of AKG Bhavan, both in Delhi and Trivandrum. At every possible instance, VS was cut down to size. And last week’s decision to drop him from the Polit Buro was the final cut. The unkindest of all.

VS now has only two options. One, to succumb to the party high command and accept it’s decision meekly. The other, to revolt and walk out of the party. Which one will 83 year old, angry young man choose?