Sudhakaran pulls out 'yellow card', gives CPM sharp dressing down

During the 'Great Awakening' years in American history, there was what was called the 'Come to Jesus' moment. It refers to evangelists encouraging "sinners" to return to the original teachings of Jesus.

On Tuesday, former CPM veteran G Sudhakaran gave the CPM its 'Come to Lenin' moment. The CPM was in urgent need of some brutal plain talk after the massive electoral loss and the man who continues to identify himself as a communist provided it in as blunt a manner as possible.

"It was the great Lenin who shaped revolutionary institutions. 'One step forward, two steps backwards' was his maxim. If the CPM had truly understood Lenin's tactical reasoning, the party itself would have uprooted the yellow stones," Sudhakaran said, referring to the boundary markers planted along the proposed alignment of the high-speed rail corridor. 

He was participating in the discussion on the 'Motion of Thanks to the Governor's Address' in the Assembly on Tuesday.

"You had placed one step forward. So what? You should have placed two backwards. And see what happened now. The people themselves have uprooted the yellow stones, and it was a historical moment," he said.

"A nonsense perpetrated mindlessly," is how Sudhakaran described Pinarayi Vijayan's pursuit of the Silverline project. "Even members of the communist party could not accept it. I was also a party member then. They went and planted the yellow stone right inside a kitchen, and television images showed the lady of the house being dragged around by her legs," he said.

When Sudhakaran said that the lady lived near former minister Saji Cherian's house, there was a roar of applause from the ruling side. "This has no connection with Saji Cherian. I just said that she lived near his house," Sudhakaran silenced the UDF.

"A government that is seen dragging a woman by her feet will not return to power. That is what history teaches us. That is also why I said if a wrong step has been taken, you should also have the heart to take two steps backwards," Sudhakaran said. 

It was state-sponsored violence in Nandigram that ultimately led to the ouster of the Left government in West Bengal. There was no mention of Nandigram in Sudhakaran's speech, though it was implied.

It was in a dismissive tone that Sudhakaran referred to a passage in the Governor's Address that speaks of the present condition of certain areas where Kerala has excelled like education, health, social development, cultural ethos and democracy. "It says that in recent times it has shown signs of decline," he said, as if suggesting that he did not agree. 

As it turned out, his disagreement was not with the criticism but its gentleness. "It is not a sign of decline; these things have plumbed the worst depths in Kerala," Sudhakaran said.

He tore into the intellectual community for remaining silent. "Most of these intellectuals are busy licking the feet of political parties for their own benefits," he said.  

The student community, too, was not spared. He quoted a Vayalar poem that likened students to "beautiful dreams" that proclaimed the future of a just Kerala. He further quoted Vayalar to call them "revolutionaries". "But alas, the ones we have now are drowned in 'ganja and charas'," he said.

Sudhakaran said that youth driven by values had made Vayalar and Punnapra uprisings possible. "But are those people urinating in front of Vayalar and Punnapra memorials now aware of such things," he said. The former CPM leader had repeatedly lamented that the CPM in Alappuzha had severed links to its roots. 

"What are the values we are fighting for now," he said. "If there is nothing to fight for, there is no future for any socio-political movements. The collapse of the Soviet Union has shown us that," Sudhakaran said.

He said that a communist party should strive to transform a social democracy into a socialist and people's democracy. "Is that what is happening now?" The question was lobbed at transport minister C P John. "You were the SFI president after me," he said. John merely smiled.

"I want to know how many are there who have read the Communist Manifesto. Leaders should keep asking in party classes how many have read the book. I would rather you expend your energies in reading the book than in shouting and booing. History does not speak of one instance where booing has achieved social change," Sudhakaran said. "For that you have to shed blood, suffer or invent new methods of protest like Mahatma Gandhi's hunger strike that brought the British to its knees," he said.

And then by praising Chief Minister V D Satheesan, Sudhakaran seemed to subtly pop a hole in Pinarayi's forbidding image. "There is absolute love and respect for the Chief Minister. Most of all, he is always pleasant," he said. Perhaps to crush any creeping feeling that he was trying to do a contrast with a morose Pinarayi, he was quick to add: "I am also not a pleasant person, and I am not blaming me."

Sudhakaran reserved his utmost disdain for the Pinarayi government's political ploy to identify itself as the harbinger of a new wave of renaissance ('Navothanam') in Kerala. He said renaissance first began in Europe and led to the revival of arts and literature. It was the time of scientific inventions. Shakespeare and Marlowe were products of the Renaissance, he said. 

Sudhakaran defined Renaissance as "a resurgence, a revival". "It will not happen just because a government arrives and says it will bring about 'Navothanam'," he said, and in what could be interpreted as a swipe at the former Chief Minister, he added: "To read out what fools had written for you is not 'navothanam'."

Sudhakaran's parting burst had invisible bullets aimed at his former comrades.

"Kerala is no one's monopoly. Nor any one should claim monopoly. Those who cannot protect Kerala's social, political, cultural, economic and educational spheres do not deserve to be in politics. They should be thrown out. Kerala has to shed its old ways. Those who do corrupt things and claim they are incorrupt are no more acceptable."