The disclosure of A.P. Abdullakutty, MLA, of an alleged comment made by Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan here in March 2008 is likely to trigger heated political exchanges in the coming days and to draw a fresh attention to the culture of violent political hostilities in the district, mainly involving CPI(M) and Sangh Parivar activists.
The revelation of Mr. Abdullakutty, who represented the Kannur Lok Sabha constituency for 10 years by winning the Parliament election from here in 1999 and 2004 as CPI(M) candidate, was that Mr. Vijayan had allegedly told party leaders at an inner-party meeting on March 5, 2008, that the party here should learn from party workers in West Bengal the methods of eliminating political rivals leaving no evidence.
The revelation has come at a time when the CPI(M) leadership in the State has found itself in the dock following the conviction of 12 people, including three of its local party functionaries, in the case of the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader T.P. Chandrasekharan.
The CPI(M) State secretary, however, has denied having said what he was alleged to have said.
Mr. Abdullakutty left the CPI(M) in 2009 and then won the Assembly election from the Kannur constituency in 2011 as Congress candidate. In an article published on the editorial page of the Congress mouthpiece, Veekshanam daily, on Wednesday, he says that the court’s verdict in the T.P. Chandrasekharan murder case gives courage to people of Kannur.
He further speaks of an “unforgettable inner-party experience” at the meeting of party leaders including himself, P. Satheedevi, the then MP representing Vadakara constituency, and P. Karunakaran, MP.
The meeting was held at the district CPI(M) office here to decide on the stand to be taken at the all-party peace meeting later that day.
At the end of the meeting, the article says, Ms. Satheedevi called for the need to bring the culture of political violence to an end, saying that the Left MPs had sat in Parliament keeping their heads down when BJP MPs displayed pictures of mutilated bodies of workers killed in Kannur.
The methodAccording to Mr. Abdullakutty, Mr. Vijayan in his response said that the party workers should learn from West Bengal as they carried out operations without leaving even a stain of blood.
The article quotes Mr. Vijayan to have said this: “They [party workers in West Bengal] bury the body in a pit dug deep and add a sack-full of salt. There will be no blood, photo or news.”
The MLA further adds that though he wanted to disclose this experience in his memoir, ‘Ningalenne Congress Aakki’ (You made me a Congress worker), he chose not to because he was frightened. Now he was disclosing it because of the newfound courage that people of Kannur have found in the wake of the court verdict in the murder case.
The CPI(M) State secretary on Wednesday denied that he made the alleged comment. Speaking at an award presentation function at the Press Club here, he said, in response to a query, that he had “learnt that a person made some remarks against me,” adding that he had no business to seek any opinion from that person, referring to Mr. Abdullakutty.
BJP district president K. Ranjith at a press conference said that Mr. Abdullakutty’s revelation should be taken seriously.
