In the politically volatile Vallikadu village in Kerala’s Kozhikode, a memorial is under police watch 24X7 fearing another attack by CPI(M) workers.
On the night of May 4, 2012, CPI(M) workers killed TP Chandrasekharan with 51 stabs. He was once a CPI(M) leader who later rebelled and broke away, and founded a new party called Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP).
In the last six years after Chandrasekharan’s murder, RMP workers built his memorial five times at the roadside in Vallikadu where he was felled. Each time they build it, CPI(M) workers smash it down.
The slain CPI(M) rebel’s memorial has been under police protection since then after being constantly attacked by local CPI(M) members. Some CPI(M) workers were arrested.
The memorial, which is under the watch for CPI(M) vandals, brings to spotlight the Left party, which cried foul over Lenin’s statue being bulldozed in Tripura by the BJP workers just after election victory.
Dilip Simeon, a labour historian, in an Outlook article had questioned the Left’s conscience subjugated by ideology.
“Would they ecognise the serious problems in the communist attitude to justice and the freedom of thought, or would they produce doctrinal justifications coupled with character assassination of the victims?”
Recently, CPI(M) workers had attacked houses of RMP workers and unleashed cyber attacks and abuse against Chandrasekharan’s wife K.K Rama, who is now leading the party forward.
Speaking to Outlook, Rama said Chandrasekharan’s memorial could be the only memorial in the country that is being kept under constant police watch.
“It’s not just about his memorial. They even attack the houses where T.P’s photographs are kept. They don’t even spare the women of such houses,” she said.
On the current attacks on Communist symbols in Tripura, Rama said the BJP in Tripura and the CPI(M) in Kerala are the two sides of the same coin. “They attack their opponents where they are in power,” she said.
