Visuals of T.P. Sreenivasan being attacked by SFI activists in Kovalam.The slap on the face of former diplomat T.P. Sreenivasan by a Students Federation of India (SFI) worker has turned out to be a slap of the face of Leftist politics itself in Kerala at a time the Opposition has been picking up confidence to face the upcoming Assembly polls.
True, it would be wrong to blame the Leftist student outfit as a whole for the crime of one of its workers. Still, the shameful incident raises questions on the functioning of the student outfit, known for its violent agitations. It also raises questions on the control the CPM exercises on it.
Sreenivasan, the vice-chairman of Kerala State Higher Education Council (SCERT), had to face the wrath SFI workers at venue of the Global Education Summit at Kovalam, which the outfit had threatened to disrupt saying it was an attempt to commercialise higher education. True, the SFI has a right to protest but the shameful violence it unleashed on the former diplomat was a violation of all the tenets of democracy -- ironically one of the three principles the student outfit swears by.
The CPM did proffer an apology, half-hearted though it was, soon after the incident. But for the liberal voter who has been looking toward the Left, the damage has been done. The incident once again cements the popular view about the violent nature of the youth outfits of the Marxist party – unfortunately at a time when the party is working hard to squeeze itself into the shoes of a populist structure. It has kept aside factionalism, initiated popular programmes such as the drive to encourage organic farming, and is gearing up to face the polls under the leadership of a Pinarayi Vijayan, who has suddenly learnt how to smile.
A Leftist organisation's protest against commercialisation or privatisation of education sector is justified in all senses, provided it is creative and backed by strong ideological and pragmatic arguments. A challenge for open debate with Sreenivasan, for instance, would have been a better and more democratic alternative. But Pinarayi Vijayan's statement that the party does not look at Sreenivasan as an educationalist sounded more like a justification and encouragement of the violence despite the party's apology.
The incident should call for a deeper interrogation on the way the SFI has been grooming its members. The manifested violence also throws light on the highly patriarchal and undemocratic structures the outfit nurtures at least on some campuses where it is a dominant political force.
Importantly, the terrible blot on the image of the SFI and its mother party comes at a time when the outfit is facing rather challenging ideological questions from groups which believe in the politics of identity gender, etc.
Across the country, the SFI seems to be in a process of reinventing itself in terms of ideological and pragmatic stances. But in its stronghold Kerala, it still prefers work according to the rules of muscle-power politics.
In this context, what filmmaker Sanalkumar Sasidharan wrote on Facebook recently becomes relevant. He said student leaders of the Government Arts College, Thiruvananthapuram, had no knowledge of the suicide of Rohith Vemula and the ensuing protests across the campuses in the country even two days after the incident.
Are we late to say it's high time that the most powerful student outfit in the state redefined its role and the mode of activism in a plural society like Kerala?
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