Veteran CPM leader MM Lawrence's daughter Asha Lawrence has called the party the most 'casteist' and 'hegemonic' political organisation in the world.
Asha came down heavily on the CPM that holds sway in the ruling Left Democratic Front in Kerala in a Facebook post written in the context of comments made by senior party leader MV Jayarajan following the killing of an activist, Haridas, at Thalassery on Monday.
Jayarajan had accused that the killing of comrade Haridas reflected the hegemony of the RSS and its dislike to the fisherfolk. "I've heard casteist remarks from comrades," wrote Asha.
"It wasn't an RSS leader who ridiculed TJ Anjalose a fish-picking lad. It was none other than CPM's most respected comrade VS Achuthanandan.
"The extent of racial, casteist, societal, economic discrimination in CPIM cannot be found in any other party in the world," Asha said.
She added that comrades even introduced each other by their caste names. "Brahmin, Menon, Nair, Catholic, pedigree, right comrades?"
"Don't upper-caste comrades say, 'oh he, that is how he behaves', about lower-caste comrades? Don't lie by betraying your conscience," Asha posed the question to Jayarajan.
She switched to another recent incident, the death of a Twenty20 activist Deepu at Kizhakambalam in Ernakulam district. At least four CPM activists are in police custody for allegedly beating Deepu to death over political differences.
"Deepu was a Dalit. The murder accused are CPIM workers," Asha noted in a lengthy post that also talked about how political killings were pre-planned and how the children of party leaders were immune to political vendetta.
In 2018, Asha's son Mithun Immanuel Joseph, who was a plus-two student then, had caused a furore by attending a BJP event.