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Gold smuggling case: CPI(M) in damage control mode after arrests of former leaders
Thiruvananthapuram: In the early hours of June 21, five men were killed near Kozhikode international airport after their vehicle rammed into a cement-laden truck
Thiruvananthapuram:
In the early hours of June 21, five men were killed near Kozhikode international airport after their vehicle rammed into a cement-laden truck. Police initially dismissed it as another road mishap, but that notion changed after the recovery of weapons and liquor bottles from the crammed vehicle.
Soon, another sensational gold smuggling case unfolded, inviting embarrassment for the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the state. The arrest of a former CPI(M) office-bearer from Kannur (north Kerala) Arjun Ayanki, who was the face of the Communist movement on social media with 40,000 followers, in connection with 2.23 kg gold smuggled from Dubai, and summons to two other leaders have left the party red-faced.
The smuggling incident surfaced after five men from Palakkad, allegedly hired by a smugglers’ gang, died in the accident after an aborted bid to loot smuggled gold on June 21. Police said there was a hot chase by rival gangs just before the accident. They clashed outside the airport and chased each other unaware of the fact that the carrier who was hiding the yellow metal in a coffee vending machine was arrested by customs authorities, police said.
Later, Ayanki, who reportedly came to the airport to collect smuggled gold, was summoned by the customs department and arrested on Tuesday. The car he drove to the airport to collect smuggled gold was allegedly owned by another CPI(M) youth wing leader C Sajesh, who was expelled from the party after the incident came to light.
A senior customs official said Ayanki was the kingpin of one of the gangs and involved in at least 20 smuggling cases in both Kannur and Kozhikode airports.
After the aborted looting bid, shocking audio tapes and phone conversations surfaced in social and electronic media, which purportedly showed that some of the youth leaders were allegedly involved in smuggling and counter-smuggling (looting of smuggled goods) activities in party citadel Kannur and they thrived using the party platform. HT could not independently verify the authenticity of leaked audio tapes and phone conversations.
One of the audio tapes even claimed that “one-third profit from the looted gold goes to the party as protection money”. Later, the CPI(M) admitted that some of its cadre deviated from the Communist path and a vigorous drive was on to weed them out. Now, party leaders are in hurry to disown these elements, a party functionary told HT on condition of anonymity.
“It is a fact some criminal gangs thrived using the party influence and clamour. We have started a campaign to weed out such elements and purge the party. We will not leave anyone who maintains links with such anti-social elements,” said party’s Kannur district secretary MV Jayarajan. Most of these expelled party workers were close to P Jayarajan, another CPI(M) leader from the district. Later, Jayarajan, also disowned them but many leaders blamed him discreetly for cultivating them, a senior functionary cited above said.
Party leaders from the district admitted that some of these workers became rich overnight and started leading ostentatious life, the functionary said, adding that normally, the party keeps a strict tab on such workers, but it failed to control their activities, as these incidents show. Due to their connections some of them enjoyed a Robinhood status in their areas and nobody dared to touch them, police officials said.
A Vijayaraghavan, state acting secretary of the ruling party, said though the party took strong action against the erring workers, a section of the media started portraying the party in bad light. “No other party takes such swift actions like CPI(M). We never need the certificates of the Left-bashing media,” he said, adding some of them were churning out juicy and spicy stories to portray the party in a bad light.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan also said such elements will be dealt with sternly. Despite action and strict warning, the party is finding it difficult to face opposition salvos.
For CPI(M), Kannur is what Nagpur is to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Kannur has had a history of bloody clashes between the two for political supremacy. The district is home to many prominent Communist leaders, including former Opposition leader in Parliament AK Gopalan, former CM EK Naynar and CM Vijayan.
“Many self-made warriors are appearing frequently on social media. The party is nothing to do with them. They are doing more damage to the ideology than helping it. We will weed out such forces,” said party MLA AN Shamseer.
Ground reports suggest that some of the activists were experts in looting the smuggled good and some of the convicted workers coordinated such activities from the jail. Since both (smuggling and counter-smuggling) are illegal, nobody used to file cases in such incidents and party leaders admit that many gangs thrived misusing their party connections.
“The party always protects criminal gangs and nurtures them. Besides smuggling, they are into many other anti-social activities as well. The party realised the danger when these gangs outgrew the party,” said Revolutionary Marxist Party MLA KK Rema, widow of renegade communist leader TP Chandrasekharan, who was murdered by a gang supported by the CPI(M). There are allegations that some of those convicted in the TP murder case, like Kodi Suni, were controlling such gangs. His name was repeated quite often in one of the audio tapes mentioned above.
But opposition parties say the CPI(M) was aware of their activities and disowned them only when they became a big liability. “It is nothing new. It is only tip of the iceberg. For many of these wayward cadres, their heroes are CM Vijayan and senior leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. It is almost like cult worship in north Kerala and the party finds much heroism in violence. It is natural workers turn to such activities,” said state Congress president K Sudhakaran.
A senior police officer of the district said, “In Kannur political parties usually hire criminal gangs for violent political activities and groom them. Since peace is prevailing in the district, these gangs turn into liability to parties. Now many are into contract criminal activities and smuggling.”
After workers’ alleged liaison with the gold smuggling gangs came to light, the ruling CPI(M) has tightened its grip on cadres. The party youth wing, Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), will start a weeklong march in the district from July 5 to uphold Communist values and check a possible deviation from ideology, said DYFI Kannur district president Manu Thomas.
