By Karoly for TwoCircles.net,
The honeymoon is over. CPI (M) has divorced Abdunnasser Madani and his People Democratic Party (PDP) after their nearly year long stint together, where both their babies of Lok Sabha results and the by-elections results were stillborn. While it is a going back to roots for the CPI(M), PDP is left uprooted and Madani faces a sharp reversal in fortunes and seems destined for the next harsh phase in his life.
And it was a triple Talaq. It came within minutes of Madani’s wife Sufiya Madani’s arrest, with Home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan claiming the arrest has boosted the image of the Left government. He even lashed the congress led UDF for not having taken action against her despite having evidence during their rule when the incident took place. However he didn’t clarify why he himself didn’t do that for the 42 months when the Left was in power.
The indictment relates to the burning of a Tamil Nadu road transport corporation bus allegedly by the PDP activists at Kalamassery in 1995 in the aftermath of jailing Madani in the Coimbatore jail in connection with the Coimbatore blasts in 1998. There were allegations of the involvement of Sufiya Madani from the very beginning. The break-through came with the statement of Thadinyantevida Nasir, who is accused to have masterminded the Bangalore blasts and other blasts that had rocked the country in the past year and is now also the prime accused in the Kalamasseri case, implicating her.
The PDP connection was a brave new venture by the CPI (M) which it had hoped would pay rich electoral dividends in a long term perspective. The move was pioneered by the influential party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, overlooking stiff opposition within the party from the Achuthanandan faction as well as antagonizing its allies CPI and Janata Dal in the process. All this was when the cup of woes of CPI (M) was already full with the party rebels openly fielding against them and Pinarayi in the throes of Lavalin corruption allegations.
A Madani poster in Malappuram[TCN Photo]
The agreement formula included fielding a commonly acceptable (read acceptable to Madani) Left independent at Ponnani, which is a bastion of Muslim League and which the communists hoped to wrestle from them using the Madani card, in return for PDP support to the Left elsewhere. The drama involved confiscating the Ponnani seat from CPI, causing resentment in them, and also “transferring” Janata Dal from Kozhikode to Wayanad, causing the latter to openly rebel and actively work for the UDF victory.
Thus the move has proved to be a great disaster for the CPI (M). The Lok Sabha results had been a wash out for the party. The CPI-CPI(M) relations are still sour and the Janata Dal faction led by M.P. Virendra Kumar has ultimately joined the UDF bandwagon. Pinarayi Vijayan had obviously mismanaged over-estimating the potential of Madani. But where he had gone wrong most was in misjudging the psychology of his own hard-core followers.
According to CPI (M) Madani was now a “changed man” after ten years of incarceration in the Coimbatore jail. But the truth is the bitter image he had built for himself in the Kerala’s psyche during his days of fiery speeches during the Babri years had never changed, despite his open apologies and antics to prove his secular credentials. But the cardinal mistake which continues to haunt the party and Pinarayi Vijayan is their sharing of the dais with the PDP at Ponnani election campaign which the party followers have never forgiven.
Not to blame the PDP, they have done their very best to prove themselves before the CPI(M) going to any extent. But the truth is Madani has lost his credibility in the Muslim community, and his few votes couldn’t make up for what CPI(M) lost for siding with him. CPI(M) has come to its senses after the washout in the bye-elections in the three constituencies. Now it is doing some soul-searching, and trying to win back the hearts of its genuine followers. Sufiya Madani’s arrest has come at the right time for them.
However Madani now cuts a sorry figure even for his adversaries. In his unadvised attempt to appease the Left he has alienated beyond chances of reconciliation other political parties like Congress and Muslim league, including many who had championed his cause when he was in Coimbatore jail without trial. This involved even publicizing confidential letters written by community leaders on the UDF side, which has not done any good to the community either. Now with the Congress or Muslim League not able to voice for him even if they want to, it is sky above and earth below for him.
In his emotional, and as usual brilliant, speech in the press conference after his wife was taken into custody, celebrated live by all the Malayalam news channels and savored by Keralites all over the world, Abdunnasser Madani lashed out at the conspiring elements in the police department and Congress against him and his family. Now too he has taken care not to attack the Left much, but still has forgotten that unlike Congress who is not in power, police officers can do quite a few things.
They have already started investigation whether Madani had used Mobile phone in the jail in connection with the Kalamassery bus-burning incident that happened four years ago. It is not hard to predict there are things to follow which could even further boost the image of the Left government in months to come. Madani had also commented that where as normally everyone enjoys happiness he was now learning how to enjoy sorrow. And it appears he won’t be disappointed for a lack of opportunities for that now.