With Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee on the 26th day of her indefinite hunger strike against the West Bengal Government's deal with Tata Motors in Singur, Marxist doublespeak stands exposed. In Kerala, another Leftist bastion, it has not taken even six months of power for the Marxists to get exposed as a pack of deceitful, self-seeking politicians.

First came the Asian Development Bank loan issue. The Rs 3,400 crore ADB loan for various projects in Kerala was negotiated during the previous UDF Government led by the Congress. The Marxists, then in the Opposition, were severe critics of it on the premise that the loan was contingent on the State Government undertaking certain specified financial reforms to cut down revenue expenditure and reduce deficits. Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan, then in the Opposition, was the most vehement critic of the loan.

After coming to power, Marxists did a volte-face. The LDF Government has now almost completed the process of accepting the loan. The sequence of events is interesting. The new State Government got the loan proposal re-examined and recommended it with small changes to the urban municipalities to pass a fresh set of resolutions as required under the terms. The urban bodies followed suit. By then, the offices of the Finance Ministry and Chief Minister had moved the new proposals further and both had given green signals for the final stage, that is, the Cabinet approval.

Once newspapers revealed that the Marxist Government was approving the loan that the same people governing it had criticised while in Opposition, Mr Achuthananadan changed his tune. During his visit to New Delhi, the Chief Minister said he had not seen the final draft. But the media next day came out with the details of his notings on the file that had approved the final draft for the Cabinet. Even his party is hard-pressed to explain to people its new stand.

Mr Achuthanandan alone is not facing this problem. Even State party secretary Pinarai Vijayan, who has always been a big challenge for Mr Achuthanandan, is in trouble. The previous Government had a vigilance report on the Canadian firm to which Mr Vijayan, as the Power Minister in the 1997-2002 LDF Ministry, had given a hydropower generator set contract whose figures were reportedly inflated. The report got leaked and Mr Vijayan was accused of deriving undue benefit out of the inflated figures in the contract. The UDF Government, however, was circumspect in following the case up, probably because the UPA Government at the Centre was - and is - dependent on the support of the Left parties for survival.

With the change of Government in Kerala, Mr Achuthanandan has only to push for the follow up on the report to corner Mr Vijayan whose supporters are in majority in the Cabinet. Though the Chief Minister regularly talks about curbing corruption, he is yet to ask for a CBI enquiry into the Canadian contract. His followers, however, are vociferously demanding a high-level inquiry; the reasons for which have less to do with corruption and more with checkmating Mr Vijayan.

The most telling example of the Communist doublespeak on corruption comes from the amendments the LDF Government has made in what is known as the Anti-Goonda Bill to appease the powerful liquor cartel in Kerala. In the original draft of the amendment that the previous UDF Government was to have proclaimed as an Ordinance, included those who could be detained for offences like adulteration of country liquor with killer spirits. The Anti-Goonda Ordinance was designed to curb, among other things, extensive adulteration by the liquor mafia that is reportedly financing both the UDF and the LDF.

The LDF Government's decision to exclude the liquor lobby from the Ordinance must be on the basis of illegal gratification of the Left parties. What is more significant is that the Congress, now in the Opposition, is silent about this change of course by the Marxist Government.

Unbiased critics describe the Left parties in Kerala as the largest business conglomerate in the State. They allegedly own assets worth Rs 1,500 crore. Almost all previous LDF Governments have gone down in vats of corruption charges. Critics complain that much of the political funding for Marxists and others comes from the underworld.

The tussle for power between Mr Achuthanandan and State party president Pinarai Vijayan spilled into the open on an incident in which the Chief Minister and Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishanan fought it out in the open. The issue was over the anti-piracy squad's raid on a studio owned by the wife of a police officer, who is said to be close to the Home Minister. Incidentally, Mr Balakrishanan belongs to the Vijayan group.

It needs to be recalled that when the Cabinet was being formed, Mr Achuthanandan sought to retain the Home Ministry with him or give it to one of his followers. But Mr Vijayan, whose writ runs in the party, resisted and finally succeeded in retaining the Home Ministry with his trusted man, Mr Balakrishnan.

The moment the anti-piracy squad zeroed in on the studio in question for suspected creation and distribution of unauthorised CDs of latest Malayalam films, the Home Minister is stated to have intervened and stopped it. The Director General of Police then approached the Chief Minister who ordered the DGP to go ahead with the raid. At the same time, Mr Achuthanandan relieved the DIG who, on Balakrishanan's intervention, ordered the raid to be stopped.

When the Kerala Press reported that the Chief Minister's order remained unimplemented for three days, Mr Achuthanandan was badly hurt. The Home Minister, however, avoided contact the Chief Minister for three days. Finally, Mr Achuthanandan ordered Mr Balakrishanan to comply. The Home Minister, for fear of dismissal from the Cabinet, had no choice but to agree. But the political circles in the State await the next move in this open drama of internal squabbles within the State's Marxists.

The whole scenario thus boils down to the Marxist party getting exposed for what it truly is: An entity that talks about the poor but has no compunction in working for the rich and even the underworld. But the more dangerous outgrowth of the Marxists in power is the strong bond between them and the Islamist elements. The Thiruvangadi by-election, where the Marxists used former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden for gathering Muslim votes, was the latest demonstration of this alliance. But this is not a new thing as the party's national leadership, too, has been promoting Islamist causes at the national level as this columnist has pointed out on several occasions.

Courtesy: www.dailypioneer.com, December 29, 2006