The CPM was made to toe Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's line at the State Secretariat on September 6. Now, after the LDF meeting today, the CPM allies, too, have been forced to abide by the CM's risky political gambit of protecting a cop who has been accused of holding secret parleys with the leaders of the Left's most despised ideological adversary, the RSS.
ADGP M R Ajith Kumar, who by his own admission had met a top RSS leader and has been accused of a series of misdemeanours, including gold smuggling and murder by a ruling party MLA, will face investigation by remaining at the head of Kerala's law and order. At least two officers in the investigation team - G Sparjan Kumar (IG South Zone) and Thomson Jose (DIG Thrissur range) - report directly to the ADGP.
The CPI had responded to the ADGP's RSS links like it was sacrilege. This urgent concern has now been summarily brushed aside. The CM’s wish is LDF’s command. It is still not clear how the CPI will respond to this snub.
Minor rebellions crushed
Top sources said CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam was already given a hint during his meeting with his CPM counterpart M V Govindan that the CM would not change his mind. The ADGP-RSS rendezvous was not even on the agenda of the day's LDF meeting. It was RJD general secretary Varghese George who insisted on having it on the agenda.
The RJD said a top cop meeting RSS leaders was a political issue that had a bearing on the future of the LDF. "The RSS is making incremental gains in Kerala. During the last presidential elections, one vote in the Kerala Assembly had mysteriously gone to the BJP's candidate (Droupadi Murmu). This called for a political response, not a criminal investigation," he reportedly told the meeting. He also reminded that the BJP's vote share had gone up to 19% this time from 13%.
CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam, who had already conveyed his party's position on the issue to the CPM, spoke about the political impropriety of having an officer with RSS connections at the helm of a Left government.
The Chief Minister, who chaired the meeting, merely said that the ADGP's visit to RSS leaders would also be included within the ambit of the probe led by the DGP. A top source said that one of the LDF leaders then asked what was the need for such a probe when the ADGP himself had admitted that he had met RSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale. The CM is said to have ignored the question.
Echoing Speaker Shamseer
However, later during a press briefing, the new LDF convenor, T P Ramakrishnan, was asked a similar question. "Wasn't it improper for a senior police officer to meet RSS leaders?" "The problem is not that he met the RSS leaders but why," Ramakrishnan said, clearly hinting at the need for a probe. "We cannot prevent anyone from meeting somebody," he said.
Incidentally, it was for the first time after Speaker A N Shamseer that a senior CPM leader has stated that there was nothing wrong in an officer meeting with RSS leaders. When told that the Speaker had called the RSS an important organisation, the LDF convenor said he did not wish to respond to what the Speaker had said. "The Speaker's is a constitutional post, and he can can given his independent views," Ramakrishnan said.
But when he was asked his opinion of the RSS, the LDF convenor was unwilling to give a direct answer. All he said was: "I have strong differences of opinion with the RSS. My party, too".
Ajith Kumar vs E P Jayarajan
Ramakrishnan also resisted addressing the ethical issue involved in retaining a cop facing serious allegations in a position of influence. "The government has taken the appropriate steps," he said. "Let us wait for the report. If the charges are true, exemplary action would be taken," he said.
But wasn't E P Jayarajan removed as LDF convenor for meeting BJP leader Prakash Javadekar? "Who told you that E P was removed for meeting Javadekar," Ramakrishnan said. "His removal from the LDF convenor's post was purely for organisational reasons," he said.
This, however, was misleading. CPM state secretary M V Govindan, while confirming the removal of Jayarajan as LDF convenor on August 31, had said that one of the reasons was Jayarajan’s utterances during the Lok Sabha election campaign, and this included his admission that Javadekar had met him at his son's house in Thiruvananthapuram.
Though the LDF convenor said that the allies too were convinced, the responses of leaders who came out of the meeting suggested otherwise. "We forcefully articulated our stand on the RSS question," RJD's Varghese George said. "But the Chief Minister said this too would be part of the ongoing investigation. Once the CM says this, there is nothing more that we can say. There is a certain discipline that members have to adhere to within the LDF," he said.