The State CPI(M) appears sharply divided about the way events have unfolded over the weekend, culminating in Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan being ‘summoned’ by Governor P. Sathasivam to explain measures taken by the government to contain the CPI(M)-BJP violence that claimed the life of an RSS worker on Saturday.
Party general secretary Sitaram Yechury has reportedly communicated to the State party leadership his unhappiness about the violence, the Chief Minister’s prompt response to the Governor’s summons and the widely held impression that the Chief Minister had convened peace talks between CPI(M) and BJP leaders here on Monday at the instance of the Governor.
Even those who had been appreciative of the Chief Minister’s determination to forge ahead with his development agenda over the past one year are now worried that sudden events such as the gruesome murder of the RSS worker might overtake him.
Suddenly, the Chief Minister and the State CPI(M) are on the back foot and the strain is showing.
The Governor’s summons to the Chief Minister was unprecedented in the State’s history and certainly so post-1974 when the then Governor N.N. Wanchoo summoned the then Inspector General of Police and the man in charge of Intelligence after he was gheraoed by Opposition MLAs in the Assembly on January 31 that year.
Mamta’s stance
Bengal Chief Minister Mamta Banerjee’s refusal to meet the Governor under similar circumstances is being cited by many of the Chief Minister’s detractors within and outside the party.
The question why and how the Chief Minister came to be caught in such a difficult spot may have to do with the nature of the violence that engulfed the State capital late Friday night.
‘Kannur stamp’
While the police have attributed the violence to ‘local level political rivalries’, the way the violence flared up within a short span of time and the ‘Kannur stamp’ in the murder of RSS worker late Saturday evening have taken even some of the CPI(M) district-level leaders by surprise. Besides, this was the transient and unintended, but costly disconnect between the Chief Minister and his party when all this happened.
CM salvages situation
Mr. Vijayan could salvage what could have ended as a costly confrontation on the streets for his party and his government only because of his quick decision to call a peace meeting between the rival sides.
If the violence and murder have caused serious damage to the CPI(M) and the State government, it has proved a blessing for the BJP State leadership which was under intense public gaze on account of the allegations of corruption against its top leaders and the near-open display of factionalism in the party.
With the violence taking central space, all discussion about the allegations have been pushed to the back-burner and this has become a talking point even within the CPI(M).
