HVK Archives: Politics of vendetta
Politics of vendetta - The Indian Express
Editorial
()
9 July 1997
Title: Politics of vendetta
Author: Editorial
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: July 9, 1997
Arrest of Raghavan does not do Marxists proud
Four decades ago when Glory, who was in an advanced stage of pregnancy, was
killed in a police firing, it became a political liability for then Chief
Minister E.M.S. Namboodiripad eventually leading to the dismissal of his
government. But successive governments never thought of hauling him up in
court for her murder. Today the government led by his own party has used a
similar incident to target its enemy No. 1 and former Minister, M.V.
Raghavan. Giving Raghavan company in the jail are a police officer and a
Deputy Collector, who ordered the police firing when a mob of Marxist youth
turned violent and pelted stones at Raghavan's car. In striking at him in
this manner, Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar has ostensibly relied on the as
yet unpublished report of a Commission which inquired into the 1994 firing
in which five DYFI activists were killed. The commission reportedly found
Raghavan guilty as he did not pay heed to the Police Commissioner's advice
that his visit was risky because of a DYFI demonstration that was planned
against him. If such protests should deter ministers from undertaking
tours, no minister will ever be able to stir out of his office. And what
was the fault of the officials? Nayanar himself admitted in the Assembly
that hot-headed activists had pelted stones at Raghavan's car. Does he mean
that the administration should have turned a blind eye to the murderous
attack?
Obviously, the LDF Government has found in the commission's report a
convenient tool to get even with Raghavan. Unlike most other leaders who
left the CPI(M) and fell by the wayside, Raghavan has been able to prove
that there can be a political life after leaving the CPI(M). It is this
success that has irked the Marxists, who did not mind adopting any recourse
to finish him, politically, if not physically. Such was their hatred for
Raghavan that they had no compunction in roasting alive the snakes in his
famous snake park at Parasanikadavu. Besides this, any institution that
had anything to do with the former Minister became a hate object for the
Marxists. But for Raghavan's ability to find a foothold in the UDF and a
seat in the Assembly, it is indeed doubtful whether he could have resisted
such pressures for so long. Perhaps, it is his defeat in the last Assembly
elections that has emboldened the Marxists to put him behind bars.
The arrest of Raghavan and the two officials has far-reaching implications
and it should not, therefore, be dismissed merely as an attempt by the
Marxists to tame a renegade who, incidentally, never tolerated dissent when
he was a top CPI(M) leader till he fell out with EMS. If they are allowed
to succeed, any government will be able to use police firings of the past
to register murder charges against its political enemies. The demoralising
effect the arrest of the two officials will have on such functionaries who
will have to take decisions on what kind of force is required against
murderous mobs can very well be imagined. Even during the tenure of
Nayanar, there have been instances of people dying in police firings. How
will the Marxists react if the next government were to use such an excuse
to accuse Nayanar of murder and arraign him before a court of law?
Governance will become almost impossible in such a situation. If Raghavan
poses a threat to the CPI(M), it has to be met politically and not through
subterfuge.
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