As the CPM's boss in Kannur district lands in the confinement of Central Jail there, the party establishment needs to do a rethink on how it deals with the situation.
First things first – Jayarajan is still an accused and he has not been convicted. And he has not been acquitted either. True, in a democratic polity, every party has the right to defend its footsoldiers in legal battles. The CPM too can rightfully choose to take this issue legally and politically.
For starters, P Jayarajan, the party district secretary, on Friday surrendered before the Thalassery sessions court a day after after the Kerala High Court rejected the CPM leader's plea for anticipatory bail.
The HC also held that the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) charges slapped on him would not be revoked.
Read also: P Jayarajan surrenders before Thalassery court
Being an accused a qualification in CPM: Sudheeran
Now, the CPM is free to tell the electorate that this is a conspiracy hatched by the RSS with the aim of tarnishing the party and thereby stop the flow of RSS cadres into its fold, as alleged by Jayarajan himself.
We are not going into the merits of the allegation. The key concern here is that in most of the cases in which political violence is a motive, the CPM activists are on one side – either they are the victims or they are the culprits. This does not in any way mean that the CPM alone should be held responsible for fostering a culture of violence that has thrived mostly in Kannur, considered its bastion.
The issue here is about managing perceptions. It is only political decency to keep those accused of serious charges, especially murder cases, from key posts within the party or democratic institutions.
The CPM, however, clings on to the weird belief that celebrating the accused, especially those charged in criminal cases, enhances the morale of its cadre.
This is a matter of perception. It only gives fodder to the CPMs political rivals, who can accuse that the CPM has a soft corner for rogue elements. That the convictions have not taken place in these cases is immaterial. In the T.P. Chandrasekharan case, the CPM did itself no good by vehemently standing by the accused. It just gained bad press.
Karai Rajan resigns as Kannur district pamchayat president
Karai Chandrasekharan quits as Thalassery municipal chairman
The Fazal murder case is a repeat situation wherein the party went a step further and made two of the accused partymen to contest local body polls. True they won, but the party was perceived as assaulting the sensibilities of a larger chunk of the apolitical electorate. Both these party leaders had to resign their posts later.
The CPM could well do better by managing perceptions effectively than by adopting dogmatic adherence to 'party line' espoused by a few.
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