People's Democracy

Why They Fear Kannur

C P Aboobacker

THE bourgeois newspapers and media are apparently apprehensive about Kannur, the citadel of the revolutionary movement in Kerala. They say Kannur is an explosive region, a place where elections cannot be held smoothly, where a greater and greater number of policemen are required during elections, and a place where CPI(M)-RSS clashes are frequent. The consternation the media are spreading has virtually created a sense of fear about the locality in the minds of those who live outside the district. Kannur has a number of illustrious educational institutions like the old and highly respected government Brennen College where a number of well-known personalities had studied. This college fostered a social commitment and desire to work for the society, and encouraged its students to develop the politician and social worker in them. The district also has a university, a medical college, engineering and law colleges besides a number of other quality educational institutions of excellence and merit. But because of the fear psychosis being created, parents hesitate to send their children to Kannur for their education, or give their daughters in marriage to a Kannur bridegroom, as supposedly he might fall victim to assailants, or a bomb might explode any time, a place more dangerous than even Kashmir.

The reality in fact is different, but this pernicious nonsense is very deliberately and consciously built up. Behind the story and the preparation of its script, which is continuously recited, lie the vested interests –– a few political parties, the newspapers, and electronic media, but above all the state administration. Kannur is different all right in several respects. Firstly it has a working class and is home to working class movement that has proved difficult to uproot. It has fought imperialism and its ally landlordism. By sacrificing some of its best sons for the country, it can be proud of its contribution to the national freedom movement. The legacies of these struggles and the sacrifices cannot be wiped out by the vested interests. Not that they do not try, time and time again, but in vain.

Kannur is the citadel of the communist movement of Kerala. It was in Kannur that the Communist Party of Kerala was organised; that Abu and Chathukutty laid down their lives for the sake of independence; that the immortal Kayyur martyrs sang the song of liberty in the face of the gallows. It was in Kannur that Morazha sang the song of the great stormy petrel of the revolution Comrade K P R Gopalan. It is where Comrade A K Gopalan was born and lived. It is in Kannur where the ‘non-violent” Congress activitsts killed without the least provocation Comrade Moyarath Sankaran, a beloved son of the Congress itself and a brave fighter for socialism. It is where Azhikode Raghavan and C H Kanaran were born and worked for the building up the Party. It is where great Vaghbatananda proclaimed his secular faith.

 
It is for all these reasons that Kannur always remains with the revolutionary party, the Communist Party of India (Marxist). People rally behind the Party, and various conspiracies have not succeeded in setting the people against the Party. This is why, in the last local body elections, the LDF, led by the Party, bagged more than 60 per cent of the votes, in spite of the infamous and ignominious UDF-RSS tie-up. The UDF received a meagre 33 per cent votes. The much-acclaimed BJP got 0.5 per cent votes. No, this is not a typing error. BJP gets only that many votes here. It is known to sell its votes, under the blanket of course, to the UDF. In most parts of the districts the CPI(M)’s position has become unassailable, which is indicated by the fact that 49 CPI(M) candidates were elected unopposed in the last local body elections. In Malappattam gram panchayat, all candidates of the Party were elected unopposed.

This is not a welcome situation for the UDF and the RSS-BJP. During the by-elections in Koothuparamba and Azhikode, the UDF made the claim that in Azhikode they would win, while in Koothuparamba they would reduce the LDF majority, on condition that the elections should be free and fair, peaceful and unobstructed by the assailants. It is their government that rules the state and they could very well establish and maintain law and order. With maximum possible police force deployed in the two assembly segments during the elections, the CPI(M) and LDF candidates won the two constituencies with a record majority. The cat was out of the bag: where there is no rigging, the UDF invariably loses.

PEOPLE WITH THE LDF

People are with the CPI(M) and the LDF. This reality is reflected in the election results. Certain villages are hundred percent with the Party, which our opponents call Party Villages. In these villages, the UDF or the BJP cannot find even one person to act as their booth agents. In the recent Koothuparamba by-election for example the UDF brought agents from outside the district. 

The UDF govt. has been dubbing the district as a trouble area since it’s coming to power in 2001. As and when the LDF wins more and more elections the harangue intensifies. During the last local body election held in September as many as 1150 booth areas were dubbed as trouble areas. Police and paramilitary forces were placed in large numbers ostensibly to maintain law and order. The chief minister came to the district to say that the government is taking all measures to maintain law and order. The director general of Police openly said that if any doubtful circumstance arises, the police would out-rightly shoot. The superintendent of Police declared that even constables were given the power to shoot at sight.  

What was the provocation? Kannur has not so far reported any untoward election crime. May be a few incidents, similar or even lesser than the ones reported from other parts of the state? Then why this dubbing as a terror-stricken area? How is Kannur different from other parts of the state, except the fact that it is a stronghold, of the CPI(M)?

And then, to the surprise of the polling personnel as well as the public, the polling personnel were insured against possible risks in the district, by the Election Commission, at a cost of thousands of rupees to the treasury. This is unprecedented. No officer had so far expressed any apprehension at being posted as an election officer in the district. No one had so far been assaulted in the discharge of his/her duties.

If all there measures were taken to check the possibility of a total flout of the UDF to give the message that there was no peace or calm, they miserably failed. Against the malicious propaganda and support of papers like Mathrbhumi and Malayala Manorema the UDF was decisively rebuffed. Certain incidents of violence had occurred, but these were against the LDF workers --- the CPI(M) Pattanoor Local Committee Secretary was stabbed inside the polling booth by UDF  assailants. The police took no action and apparently on instructions from above, booked four LDF workers. Scandals were spread to the effect that Party leaders like M V Jayarajan and others captured booths whereas it was the other way round for example in Ramanthaly Grama Panchayat the UDF captured the booths in the ward No.13, thereby ensuring the won that Panchayat. At no time in the history of the district have there been incidents of widespread election crimes in the district.

If at all there is any trouble it comes from the anti-communist UDF and the RSS  Kanapuram in Kannur is a virtually violence-free area, with one or two tiny RSS pockets. After the LDF scored a unanimous victory in the Gram Panchayat election a party cadre was murdered and three workers seriously injured, while returning from their work. Such exhibitions of horror had earlier been seen in and around Thalassery, a place of historic struggles and resistances. The beedi workers and other sections of the proletariat in Thalassery sharply resisted. The UDF always acted in complicity with the assassin gang of the RSS, and rejoiced when Com Rejith was assassinated.

The CPM stands in sharp resistance to RSS crimes, while the UDF uis collaborating with the RSS. Even when the congress sympathizer athlete Sathyan was cut into pieces in a butcherly manner by the RSS, the Congress did not open its mouth in opposition. A little girl Ashna had a bomb thrown at her and she lost a leg. Again the congress had nothing to say in condemnation. And of course the police are mobilised to protect the RSS and its Parivar. 

 
Kannur is red.  We don’t hesitate to so declare it the people of the district remain with the Party and its allies. They want peace; they know peace is the precondition for progress. They know revolution comes through a disciplined, peaceful party building, and nothing will be able to shake this citadel made in this red soil of Kannur. The recent protest rally held under the auspices of the LDF proves this beyond an iota of doubt.