Historically, the CPM must be credited with mobilizing the dalits in Kerala as a class force. But the incident in question and many other such ones prove that the party has not been able to send a strong message to its ranks on caste-based discrimination and abuse.The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) has been fighting identity politics on an ideological ground, arguing that the caste/community-based groupings will further divide society and fuel the rise of fascist forces. Even as one agrees with the party's stance favoring a politics based on equality, it has to be equally strongly said that the party has not been successful in emerging as an anti-caste movement, which is a necessity in the current Indian context.
The CPM has often been accused of being casteist, a charge the party brass has always vehemently rubbished. However, the recent incident in which two dalit women were jailed on charges of attacking a local party leader in Kannur district forces one to think that the accusations against the party hold some water.
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For the uninitiated, Thalassery police recently arrested two young dalit sisters, the daughters of a local Congress leader, for allegedly barging into the local CPM office at Kuttimakool near Thalassery and manhandling a party worker there. The sisters were sent in judicial remand to the woman's jail in Kannur, and the toddler of one of them was now in jail with them. The women were granted bail on Saturday.
Now, here is where things get interesting. The father of the accused says his daughters entered the CPM office to question Shijin, a local leader, who had persistently abused them by referring to their caste. He also says that after the alleged incident, CPM workers barged into his house and manhandled him and his daughters, repeated the caste slurs, and damaged the windows of his house and his car.
The police have registered a case against seven CPM-DYFI workers including Shijin for attacking the women, including under sections of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, but have not arrested a single person so far. Compare that to the cops' alacrity in sending the women to jail.
Of course, it's a law and order issue and whoever committed an offence must be punished. But the allegation that the DYFI worker hurled caste slurs on a dalit girl is something serious. Historically, the CPM must be credited with mobilizing the dalits in Kerala as a class force. But the incident in question and many other such ones, which have often gone unnoticed, prove that the CPM has not been able to send a strong message to its ranks on caste-based discrimination and abuse.
Recently, this writer came across an influential CPM leader in Pathanamthitta district, who shamelessly mentioned each person mentioned in our conversation by his/her caste. There is another loyal party worker who stayed away from voting in the civic polls when his panchayat ward was reserved for SC woman candidates.
It can be argued that these are isolated events, but the fact that such people still hold influential positions in the party proves the CPM has lost the plot when it comes to handling the caste question. The fight of Chitralekha, a dalit autorickshaw driver, with the local CITU leaders in a Kannur village has been on for over a decade now. While Chitralekha has become an icon of identity politics and a voice of victims of CPM terror in Kerala, party mandarins wriggle out of the fundamental question by pointing out that such allegations have not brought any damage to its image.
The CPM could sweep into power because an overwhelming majority of Kerala voters – cutting across caste and community lines -- still has great faith in the party. But electoral math apart, even an allegation of CPM workers using caste slurs on their political or personal rivals is not welcome news for anyone who believes in a progressive ideology.
With such people on board, how is the party going to challenge the Brahminical mindset that it so often accuses the BJP of harboring? The CPM needs to condemn such incidents after checking their veracity and issue strong warnings and follow-up actions to its cadre.
During the Assembly polls, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said in an interview that Marxism and Ambedkarism should walk in hand in hand. It's an enthusing dream for the followers of the varied streams of Leftist ideology across the country. But it will only remain a dream so long as the so-called Marxist party fails to shed the casteist elements within it.
(The views expressed are personal)
