The Congress on Friday boiled at the suggestion that Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala was the ‘Hindutva face’ in the party's State leadership.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had sparked a row by accusing Mr. Chennithala of towing a right-wing line espoused by leaders of Hindu majoritarian politics.
In an oped page article in party newspaper Deshabhimani, Mr. Balakrishnan said Mr. Chennithala's was the "Sar Sangh Chalak" in the Congress leadership. His positions on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Ayodhya, triple talaq and other issues were consistent with that of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Mr. Chennithala, he said, existed intellectually in the ideological echo chamber of the RSS. His political positions parodied that of BJP State president K. Surendran. The RSS uniform appeared to suit Mr. Chennithala better than BJP leaders.
Mr. Kodiyeri said Mr. Chenntihala’s open affinity for RSS ideology had endeared him to the Sangh Parivar. The BJP had aided his victory in the 2016 Assembly elections. The erosion in BJP votes had benefited Mr. Chennithala, he said.
The row appeared to border on the personal. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Mullappally Ramachandran said Congress workers were not in the same league as CPI(M) leaders who paid lip service to communism in public and practised sorcery and wore amulets in secret.
Mr. Balakrishnan had attempted to drive a wedge between the Congress and its traditional support base in the run-up to the local body polls. His bid would fail pathetically, he said.
The CPI(M) had targeted Mr. Chennithala for having repeatedly pointed out that the gold smuggling case weighed heavily on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The National Investigation Agency had questioned his former Principal Secretary and confidant M. Sivasankar. Mr. Vijayan had bought infamy to the Chief Minister's Office.
Congress legislator Shafi Parambil said blind hatred of the Congress had driven the CPI(M) into the RSS camp. The Jan Sangh had campaigned for Mr. Vijayan in the 1977 Assembly election. S. Ramachandran Pillai, a Polit Bureau member, was an RSS adherent. He compared Mr. Kodiyeri’s words to that of VHP leader Sasikala. The war of words between the leaders reflected in the social media robustly.
