Thiruvananthapuram: Amid tight security, the Revolutionary Marxist Party cadres kicked off the first anniversary of the murder of their leader TP Chandrasekharan on Saturday, with hundreds paying homage and tens of thousands of Keralites still awaiting final word about the people behind the gruesome killing of the rebel Communist leader.
A compilation of 51 poems to commemorate the RMP leader, penned by 51 people, is also planned as part of the anniversary celebrations. Chandrasekharan suffered 51 blows in the killing, according to police investigation reports.
Chandrasekharan was murdered on May 4 last year, and the killing was the single most significant political news in Kerala for the entire year, as arrests of several people accused of killing the man who dared the CPM, pointed to several CPM supporters and office bearers.
Chandrasekharan’s murder shook the CPM not just from the outside, but from inside, too, as CPM veteran and Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan made remarks critical of the party in connection with the murder, and visited the slain leader’s house. On his death anniversary, Achuthanandan shot another political missile Saturday, commenting that one needed to “find out” why an investigation report by the CPM regarding the murder, was still under wraps. The CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechuri refused to comment about Achuthanandan’s remark.
The murder of Chandrasekharan was also a shock for the state, since it was perhaps the first time that a Communist party was alleged to have hired goons to murder a fellow Communist.
Chandrasekharan’s wife KK Rema said the CPM had deviated from its ideologies and that she and her followers in the RMP were not considering a return to the CPM fold.
To mark the first anniversary of Chandrasekharan, cadres lit a lamp from the roadside at Vallikaattu where he was hacked to death and carried it to his final resting place at his home in Onchiyam.
The CPM denies any role in the killing of Chandrasekharan, but political analysts here believe that it will be difficult for the party to shrug off the bad image it acquired in the wake of the murder. They say the party will be particularly affected because the murder happened in Malabar, a traditional stronghold of the party, where a number of youth may not buy the ideology theme after the murder of fellow Communist Chandrasekharan.
