The silent voter base in Kerala is evolving into a Tsunami of sorts. #LDF & #UDF had mocked this huge voter base. Now, as BJP Kerala is closing on a classic marathon finish, news channels pollsters who predicted a majority for LDF are a worried lot. For many in their highly biased opinion polls have predicted a landslide for LDF.
One of the strange things observed in this elections in Kerala is that, CPM has not gone for a high decibel campaign. This may be due to the confidence that CPM did relatively better than was expected in the recently held local body elections. BJP, on the other hand has gone for high pitched campaigns led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, party President JP Nadda, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, Piyush Goyal, Smriti Irani, Giriraj Singh, MP Meenakshi Lekhi among others.
But CPM party bigwigs like Sitaram Yechury and Prakash karat (who hails from Kerala) did not campaign for the party in Kerala. Why?
There is a reason why Yechury did this. He has no love lost for Pinarayi Vijayan who openly defies the once powerful CPM politburo. After being wiped out in West Bengal, Yechury has nothing to hang on to. He cannot even win a panchayat election in his home state of Andhra Pradesh.
Yechury did not even bother to campaign in the on-going assembly elections in Kerala. He wants Pinarayi Vijayan to lose, so that he along with Bengal faction of CPM can rule the roost again. But the Kerala CM has become all too powerful within his party and brooks no dissent.
Pinarayi Vijayan has systematically destroyed the future of his political opponents within CPM Kerala. V S Achutanandan wanted one more term as CM, but Pinarayi Vijayan would have none of it. He ensured that the grand old man, a crowd puller of his party was isolated completely. So much so, Achutanandan was removed from the CPM Party Politburo and never reinstated.
VS as he is popularly known, did not even get a nomination in the 2016 Kerala Assembly Elections. It was a game played by Pinarayi Vijayan to ensure that VS did not become a power centre in CPM Kerala. But, strident protests of citizens forced CPM to concede Malampuzha seat to VS.
VS, as expected won from Malampuzha, but was not made CM nor offered any cabinet post by Pinarayi Vijayan. He was made the Chairman of the 4th #Kerala Administrative Reforms Commission, a toothless outfit. Failing health and isolation from party apparatus made him a recluse.
Another major mistake CPM Kerala did was in not backing Devasom Minister Kadakampalli Surendran. Fighting a desperate battle in Kazhakootam, a suburb of Tiruvananthapuram Surendran apologised for the desecration of Sabarimala shrine. But Sitaram Yechury pulled him up, asking what was the need to apologize. Soon, Pinarayi Vijayan also joined the chorus of ‘why did he apologize’? Suddenly, CPM looks vulnerable. The party knows that BJP will play the Sabarimala issue to the hilt, reminding the faithful, the atrocities unleased by Pinarayi Vijayan Government in 2018, aiding and abetting the desecration of the holy shrine. The events of 2018 is something that no Keralite, specially, the Hindus will forget in a lifetime. That wave of emotions may upset CPM’s applecart and even leading to a vote in favour of BJP on 6th April.
Kerala is last bastion of CPM and once they are decimated here, they have no option but to shut down the party. Like BJP, the CPM has built up a party cadre from village level. That existed in Bengal and #Tripura too, but it didn’t take long for the party to get wiped out in those two states.
So, in a way Pinarayi Vijayan and Co Pvt Ltd, have no choice. He knows what happened to the Communists in USSR, Poland, Romania and his favourite destinations, Cuba and Venezuela. The choice is to fight and win, or lose and end up in the dustbin of history. Pinarayi Vijayan might be advised to read up about what happened to Nicolae Ceausescu and Pol Pot.
