The Communist parties are known to not differentiate between party and the government. For example, the Communist party of China practically owns the Chinese state, and therefore, the Chinese armed forces go with the name of People’s Liberation Army- which was the armed wing of Communist party of China, not some neutral sounding name which is not related to the party.
Closer home, in India, the Communist party cadres in West Bengal were infamous for overruling the police; the control of the law and order by party workers were normal practice. Contrary to that, in any parliamentary democratic system, the party and the government is expected to function differently, with the ruling party having minimal say in the functioning of the government.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist), which is ruling party in Kerala, is facing the wrath of the party cadres for arrest of two individuals under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) – UAPA act. The CPM government in Kerala slapped UAPA charges against two CPM activists for allegedly having links with Maoists. Alan Suhaib and Taha Fazal were jailed for condemning the killing of four Maoists in Palakkad district of Kerala.
This has led to massive outrage from the party workers, who claimed that Alan Suhaib and Taha Fazal were CPM workers, and their imprisonment is illegal. In reality, the two individuals are actually card carrying CPM members, who had turned Maoists, as the line between Marxism and Maoism is very thin.
“The two of them are not party men, instead they are Maoists,” said Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is having tough time in justifying the imprisonment of two of his own party members.
The two individuals are students of law and journalism and were arrested from home town in Kozhikode, for support of Maoist movement in the state. Senior party leaders Sitaram Yechury and Prakash Karat came down heavily on the Vijayan led Left Democratic Front government, for the arrest of two party workers under UAPA.
Vijayan is not very popular among the party workers. The victory of the LDF government in 2016 was due to able leadership of 92 year old VS Achuthanandan, who was not chosen for the post of Chief minister- citing old age and health conditions. Henceforth, the party appointed Vijayan as Chief Minister of the state in 2016. Now, the lack of popularity among the party workers has come to haunt Vijayan one again, as the whole CPM leadership has gone after him since the arrest of two individuals.
As per various reports, Maoists are spreading their activities in Kerala-Karnataka-Tamil Nadu (KKT) region. As per an intelligence report, “Currently the Western Ghat zonal committee is run by B.G Krishnamurthy and militarily supported by Vikram Gowda. Their main recruitment is from Karnataka and Chhattisgarh, but they prefer to stay in Kerala parts of Western Ghats. There have been sightings and four groups are operating in the Kerala side of Western Ghats.”
Maoist activities on Kerala border are actively being supported by National Development Front (NDF), a Muslim outfit set up in 1994 in Kerala. In 2016, NDF was merged with Popular Front of India (PFI), the Islamic extremist outfit infamous for issuing death threats to many prominent individuals. The stated objective of NDF is to “focus on socio-economical issues of minorities giving a focus to Kerala Muslims in Kerala”.
The CPM government should take a strong action against the illegal and unconstitutional activities of PFI, and the Maoists. But, given the lack of co-operation from the party cadres, which originates from the thin line between Communists, Maoists, and Islamists, a serious crackdown on illegal activities is very unlikely.
