By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan Wednesday lashed out at noted Malayalam writer M. Mukundan, who in an article had called the former an “outdated saint”, and admitted that he belongs to the “old fashioned school of Communist thought”.
“It is true that I am 85 (years old) and belong to the old school of thought based on an ideology that began in 1848. I am really proud that I belong to that old school and I am old fashioned,” Achuthanandan told reporters here.
Writer Mukundan, who is also the president of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, in an interview to a magazine last week has called the chief minister “old fashioned” and had said that the state needs leaders like Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan.
“Even when Karl Marx lived, the capitalist used to time and again say that Communists are old fashioned. This is a song that those affiliated to capitalism often sing. Certain values can be kept afloat only through class struggle and those who oppose capitalists are always taken to task,” said Achuthanandan.
The factional fight between groups led by Achuthanandan and Vijayan have dogged the CPI-M ever since it came to power in Kerala in May 2006.