The row triggered by the arrest of two CPI(M) activists on charges of Maoist links from Kozhikode has made it imperative for the party leadership to opt for a thorough review and close scrutiny of the functioning of its cadres and evolving a mechanism to weed out those professing tacit links with ultra-Left and other fundamental outfits.
Party sources told The Hindu that identifying such elements that had infiltrated into the rank and file was a tall challenge, but the organisation itself had a mechanism for purging them periodically.
Quite often the lack of diligence of leaders at difference levels in keeping a tab on the functioning of the cadre and preventing them from going astray had cost dearly for the party.
The recent developments are being cited as a case of lack of caution of the local leadership and such issues may come up for serious discussions soon.
The inputs furnished by the CPI(M) Kozhikode south area committee through the district leadership that had adopted a sympathetic approach to the arrested youth, Alan Suhaib and Thaha Fazal, are understood to have prompted the State secretariat to desist itself from directly intervening in the issue and also mute its demand for reconsidering the slamming of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) invoked against them.
BJP stance
Quite significantly, the State BJP leaders had already accused the State government of soft-peddling on the issue and had minced no words in clarifying that if the State fumbled, there were other agencies that were capable of handling the case with efficacy.
Despite professing strong views and opposition to the indiscreet imposition of UAPA, a direct intervention and demand of the CPI(M) and the State government to review it in the case of the arrested youth may set the ground for the smooth entry of the National Investigation Agency to probe the case.
It would not be politically expedient either for the State government or the CPI(M) to go overboard on the issue and hence had left it to the decision of the UAPA authority. Though the CPI(M) national leadership and the CPI had reiterated their stance on UAPA, the State secretariat had chosen to tread cautiously than inviting the attention of the Centre in the way the case was being conducted, sources said.
