Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President Mullappally Ramachandran's attempt to belittle Health Minister K K Shailaja, his contemptuous statement that she once wanted to be the 'Nipah princess' and is now angling for the 'COVID empress' title, was clearly in bad taste and uncalled for. Even a crucial Congress ally like Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) said it could have been avoided.
Yet, the KPCC chief's scorn seems to have provided the Congress two unintended political benefits. One, his utterances seem to have provoked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to take Congress and its leaders seriously.
And two, the chief minister's stinging counter to Mullappally's mockery has given the Congress a chance to scratch out the arrogant and ruthless image that Vijayan had successfully masked, especially after COVID-19 struck.
Return of the invisible
Congress leaders Onmanorama talked to sounded jolted by the chief minister's response, but they also seemed to derive a strange satisfaction from the fact that the chief minister spend quite some time talking about a Congress leader, even if it was only to blast and ridicule him.
Vijayan suddenly looked disturbed by what a top Congress leader said. Thanks to Mullappally's untimely words, Vijayan has re-discovered his abrasive side.
Especially after the Sprinklr controversy, the chief minister's tactic was to dismiss Congress leaders, especially opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, as insignificant. It was as if the Congress party and Chennithala were not worth the bother.
Whenever an allegation levelled by Chennithala was put to him during his customary sunset briefing, the chief minister would laugh like a teacher would at the indiscretions of a student he thought was beyond help.
This way, Pinarayi had managed to keep controversies that could have blown up on his face - like the transport of Pamba sand, inadequate COVID-19 testing, quarantine flip flops and the plight of non-residents – burning softly, unthreateningly, like the dying glow on a spent firewood.
V Muraleedharan as opposition leader
At the same time, he looked gravely hurt by the words of V Muraleedharan, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs. Anyone not tuned into politics would have felt the BJP leader was Pinarayi's arch-rival.
This strategy even threatened to push Congress into an existential crisis. By placing Muraleedharan as his chief opponent, Vijayan was hinting that he was not willing to even acknowledge the existence of the Congress, the de jure chief opposition party.
There could be yet another reason why Muraleedharan was given pride of place. By sounding tough against a union minister, Vijayan was perhaps hoping to bust the charge that he was being too subservient to the Centre.
Foul mouth competition
The chief minister's harangue against Mullappally has not just brought the Congress back into the game, it has also given the party a weapon to cause cracks on the image of a strong and benevolent ruler that Vijayan had acquired.
Vijayan had termed the words Mullappally used to besmirch Shylaja as “uncouth”. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala was quick to point out the irony. He said on Sunday (June 21) that no other political leader in Kerala had used more despicable language than the chief minister.
Chennithala repeated the epithets Vijayan had used for the then Thamarassery Bishop Paul Chittilapally (“nikrishtajeevi”, loosely translated as worthless being), and the UDF MP N K Premachandran (“paranari', local slang for a stinkard). He also reminded how Pinarayi Vijayan called Revolutionary Marxist Party's T P Chandrasekharan a “kulamkuthy” (traitor) even before, as Chennithala put it, “the blood on his deep fatal wounds could dry”.
“This was the opening we were looking for. It is high time we expose Pinarayi Vijayan for what he is,” a top Congress leader said.
He said the Congress would now raise to a shrill pitch the charge that Vijayan was using the services of a public relations company to rework his image.
“We will keep up the heat till he finds it impossible to ignore us,” the Congress leader said.
