Alappuzha: G Sudhakaran, CPM leader and former Kerala minister, criticised legendary Malayalam author MT Vasudevan Nair's recent remarks on power politics. Ridiculing other writers who supported MT as "cowards", Sudhakaran said that MT's teaching on governance and protests was not needed.
The CPM leader was inaugurating a protest meeting organised by the Alappuzha district committee of the Kerala Private School Management Association, in front of the Office of the District Educational Deputy Director. According to Sudhakaran, writers who supported MT exhibited their cowardice.
MT in his recent speech at the inauguration of a book fest in Kozhikode, spoke against totalitarianism, personality cults and the corruption of power politics. Though the writer never named any leader, it was construed as a veiled attack on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who shared the stage with him. The veteran's speech also went viral on social media platforms as a section of netizens attributed his sharp references to Vijayan. Soon after MT made his comments, noted author M Mukundan also issued a similar statement criticizing those holding positions of power.
In his speech, Sudhakaran alleged that MT was making a showing-off. “MT lacks sincerity in his words. Other writers who parroted MT’s words are cowards,” he said.
Sudhakaran elaborated that the Left parties have maintained a historic position on power and struggles. “We will launch struggles for rights whether we are in power or the opposition. It was E M S Namboodiripad (known popularly as EMS) who highlighted this policy of carrying out struggles even while holding power. Have everyone forgotten all that?” he asked.
“EMS stressed that problems faced by the people cannot be solved only by the Left parties attaining power. These are the tenets of Marxism. Only those who have studied this philosophy will be aware of it. If anyone doesn’t understand all this, they should learn,” said the CPM leader. He added that all the debates surrounding MT's statement were "immature". “MT was speaking to the people. It is immature to discuss the issue as if an atom bomb was dropped over Kerala,” said Sudhakaran.
At the same time, he stressed that his words were faithful to the CPM’s policies. “EMS’s statement on power along with struggle is still relevant. Few people realize that it is Marxist dialectics. As far as my party is concerned, parliamentary democracy isn’t the absolute goal. Our only goal is absolute socialism; an age when there is no inequality or exploitation,” said Sudhakaran.
According to him, those who claim that socialism has collapsed citing the incidents in Russia and Cambodia were ignorant. People whose ultimate aim is socialism can engage in struggles even while holding power when parliamentary democracy cannot solve their problems,” said the CPM leader.
MT during his speech said that freedom was not something offered as crumbs by rulers. He said that everywhere, power had become a means to gain dominance and even total dominance over others. The assumption that power was a means to serve the people had been buried long ago, said MT.
As said by M Mukundan said we live in an age where those with crowns reign supreme. In such a situation, we need to recognize human values, he added. Those occupying thrones will never leave their seats. “I can only advise them to leave their thrones as the people are coming for them,” said Mukundan.