The conflicting manner in which the CPM in Kerala is handling the Thrissur Pooram fiasco looks like its version of a slapstick comedy.

The party is in danger of reducing itself to the pitiable condition of a comic hero who, caught in a difficult situation of his own making, conjures up one seemingly smart ploy after the other for momentary relief but each ploy subverting the other and finally all of these short-term ploys clashing together to pull the hero deeper into a laughable mess.

At the heart of the trouble is Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's long silence. By the middle of September it was clear that the CM's refusal to act against ADGP M R Ajith Kumar who had secretly met RSS leaders and was accused of disrupting Thrissur Pooram had become politically unsustainable for the CPM. The CM's inaction looked like confirmation of the seemingly wild conspiracy theory that there was a CPM-BJP deal to boost BJP candidate Suresh Gopi's chances in Thrissur.

Delayed report, damaging content
On top of it came the reported findings of the ADGP who, as the head of law and order, was asked to probe the Pooram fiasco and submit a report in a week's time. Ajith Kumar delivered the report after five months, and that too after much prodding.

The delay caused by Ajith Kumar was already a huge embarrassment for the CPM and now the content leaked to the media was like a slap on the party's face. The ADGP's report, it was said, had ruled out an RSS conspiracy. The CM's most trusted cop had given the RSS a clean chit was the message that went out.

Poor repeat value
The very next day, on September 23, the CM swung into action. "There was an attempt to disrupt the Pooram. And everyone is convinced of that," he said in Thrissur. He also hinted that the news reports that said that the ADGP had ruled out a conspiracy were false.

For the moment, the CM managed to convince, at least party cadres, that the RSS will not be spared.

However on October 26, a day before the police finally registered a case related to the disruption of the Pooram, the CM flipped his words. "The Pooram was not disrupted," he said in Kozhikode, while releasing CPM leader P Jayarajan's book 'Keralam: Muslim Politics, Political Islam'.

"The Muslim League and Sangh Parivar say in one voice that the Pooram was disrupted. Was any traditional ritual associated with the Pooram done away with? The only thing that happened was that the fireworks got delayed a bit. Can a delay in Pooram fireworks be called a disruption," the CM said.

Prevention is better than cure
This shift in argument is yet another survival ploy.

CPM sources Onmanorama talked to said that it would be a folly to give the impression that the Pooram was disrupted. "Even earlier, the CM did not say that the Pooram was disrupted. He just said there was an attempt. But the idea that got conveyed was that the party was convinced that the Pooram was sabotaged. This interpretation should be removed," one of the leaders said. "To admit to disruption would be to admit administrative lapse and inefficiency," he said.

Such a perception could work against the LDF in the by-elections, especially in Palakkad where it is trying to woo neutral secular votes. So instead of declaring that it would go after the RSS for sabotaging the Pooram, and leave itself open to the criticism that the government it leads was caught napping when the BJP stole the show, the CPM wants to spread the muscular theme that it had thwarted the devious designs of the RSS.

This is why the Chief Minister's Office put out a statement on Monday (October 28) saying that "all major rituals related to the Pooram like the side Poorams and processions and 'ilanjitharamelam' and 'kudamattam' were held strictly according to traditions". This was the CM's way of saying that there could have been some minor problems like the delay in fireworks caused by the sinister designs of a certain few but the government had made sure that, in general, the Pooram was conducted in all its splendour.

CPM’s logic, CPI’s illogic
Problem is, this self-serving line of the CPM will rob its ally CPI of its big grievance. The CPI is convinced that it was the disruption of the Pooram that resulted in the defeat of its candidate V S Sunil Kumar in the Lok Sabha polls. Its state secretary Binoy Viswam, therefore, insists that the Pooram was disrupted.

"Not only was the Pooram disrupted, but some people had not allowed it to be conducted the way it had to be," Viswam said.

More than the CPI, it is facts that the CPM will have to worry about. The CM now says that the only thing that went wrong was the delay in the ritual Pooram fireworks. Fact is, many other things had gone wrong.

Here are some. One, the procession of Kanimangalam Sastha was impeded by the unprecedented crowd of vehicles on Swaraj round. Two, the procession could not enter the south entrance as the area was fully barricaded. Three, Thiruvambady Devaswom called off the 'panchavadyam' during its night procession. Four, Thiruvambady was forced to limit its elephants to one. Five, ornamental lights were switched off. Six, Devaswom Board employees who arrived with oil to Vadakkumnatha Temple were barred entry.