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Nayanar gives an oblique reply to Pillai

By C. Gouridasan Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM JUNE 19. In what amounts to a trenchant, though oblique, reply to the Marxist literatteur, P. Govinda Pillai's critique of E. M. S. Namboodiripad, the former Chief Minister and CPI(M) politburo member, E. K. Nayanar, has likened EMS to the sun whose glory cannot be hidden by some `old winnowing sieve'.

In his weekly column `Munnottu' appearing in the party organ `Deshabhimani' today, Mr. Nayanar has described EMS as a stalwart capable of straddling generations. No other Communist leader in Indian history could display consistently for six decades the kind of inner strength that EMS had to cut across crises at the national and international levels and turn every crisis into something advantageous to the party. "There have been leaders who have walked with history, but those who blazed new trails in history and led their times are very rare,'' he says. Mr. Nayanar has also cited EMS' ability to touch off new debates with his speeches and writings and feels that history has also vindicated EMS' political pragmatism. EMS was Kerala's great gift to the world, a man who made original contributions both as an administrator and as an ideologue who dealt with areas as diverse as historiography, Indian caste system, growth of the working class movement, agrarian reforms and administrative reforms, he says.

The former CM has cleverly hidden his target from the public eye, but has left enough hints as to who he has in mind. The article mentions the Cooperation Minister and CMP leader, M. V. Raghavan, as the target, but also wonders whether some others are also `spreading wrong information' about the CPI(M) possibly because they have fallen into the trap of a section of the media and certain other quarters. He has regretted that this campaign has been unleashed at a time when the Antony Government, which came to power with the support of 100 MLAs, was counting its days. Interestingly, Mr. Nayanar has been soft on the CPI State secretary, Veliyam Bhargavan, who had jumped into the fray and questioned the very ideological foundations of the CPI(M). He has let off Mr. Bhargavan with the comment that his observations about the ideological moorings of the CPI(M) and the row over the possible merger of the two parties is uncalled for at this point of time.

Mr. Nayanar's article could also be read as a counterpoint to what the CPI(M) politburo member, S. Ramachandran Pillai, had to say on the subject. He had, to some extent, endorsed Mr. Pillai's views.

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