Column | The curious case of Jay Shah and Bineesh Kodiyeri

Fathers cannot be held accountable to the acts of sons. So says the CPM. Party's state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has nothing to do with the arrest of his son BIneesh, the party reasons. The party, however, had a different line of reason three years ago when BJP president Amit Shah's son, Jay Shah, was accused of amassing income disproportionate to known sources.

People's Democracy, the CPM mouthpiece, said Shah was an example of crony capitalism. The editorial also demanded a probe by the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation into the allegations against the influential businessman. The CPM leadership even challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to launch an investigation into the allegations against his party boss.

The Bengal unit of the CPM, which stood like a rock behind Kodiyeri in the just-concluded party central committee meet, then sniped at Modi, alleging that Amit Shah’s son had made a killer profit with demonetization.

Even Kodiyeri wasn’t forgiving. "When the National Democratic Alliance is in power, their party members can just mop up money. BJP national president's son Jay Shah is one of the beneficiaries of demonetization."

The same kind of allegations are now being raised against Kodiyeri and his son.

The CPM reacted sharply even when similar allegations were raised against Vivek Doval, the son of National Security Adviser Ajith Doval, a loyalist of Modi and Shah. The provocation was media reports accusing the influential sons of questionable deals. Kodiyeri even alleged that the BJP’s Jana Raksha March was a smokescreen to divert attention from the allegations against Shah.

Whatever he said then can be turned against him now.

The CPM has never differentiated between fathers' careers and sons’ misdeeds. The party had always taken rivals to tasks over allegations against kin.

That party's state secretary has seen his son’s house being raided by the Enforcement Directorate. The party workers who gathered to protect the party headquarters in the face of a threat from Yuva Morcha did not bother to go to Bineesh's house, where Kodiyeri often stayed.

Many in the party seek to dissociate themselves from Bineesh, yet approve of Kodiyeri as the party secretary. Most of the people are concerned about Kodiyeri in his hour of crisis. He is also disturbed by ailments.

The CPM is also in crisis. They cannot disown Kodiyeri and they lose their slogans against corruption and nepotism and crony capitalism. Even C P John, who hit the street during the emergency to free Kodiyeri from jail as a comrade from the SFI, is leading an agitation demanding that the agency question Kodiyeri.