Kerala Social Critic and Malayalam Writer Sacaria Heckled as He Spoke Against Moral Policing

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Venugopalan K M
To: venukm
Sent: Sun, 10 January, 2010 3:48:36 PM
Subject: Noted Social Critic and Malayalam Writer Sacaria Heckled as He Spoke Against Moral Policing and Later Manhandled by DYFI Activists at Payyanur(Kannur)

Payyanur is in focus again, for its characteristic mofussil politics preoccupied with die-hard defending of the 'Left'. A literary seminar and book release was organized by December Books yesterday which had been participated by many important writers and attended by an enlightened audience together with activists of the Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham(Forum for Progessive Art and Lierature). Pu.Ka .Sa is an all Kerala Organization patronized by the CPI(M).
Sacaria, the well known social critic and writer while releasing a book by Madhu Nair referred to the deplorable state of the society in which a man and a woman found in circumstances of having extra marital sex or even suspected of doing such thing, would be hounded by the moral brigade. He might be referring to the 'anaasasyam' case recently clamped on Rajmohan Unnithan at Manjeri, Malalappuram district in which a local mob led by DYFI and PDP activists surrounded a house and got the police to arrest Rajmohan (a Congress leader) under sections of an Act that prevent trafficking on women.
According to today's news paper reports, a group from the audience heckled Sacaria and threw filthy abuses at him. Later, while he was about to leave the town, a small group of DYFI men accosted him and keys of the car were forcibly snatched from the driver. The group of about half a dozen men comprising the son of a former MP reportedly told Sacaria that he would not be allowed to get away in good shape, with this kind of speeches made(against the movement and party!) at Payyanur. They threatened to smash his head and teeth. Sacaria reportedly replied that he would then be happy to have a taste of the DYFI culture of Payyanur. Irritated by this,the group persisted on giving threats and continued to pour abuses on Sacaria. The organizers of the event who too were CPM sympathizers finally succeeded in dissuading the small mob . Sensible intervention by writers like C V Balakrishnan also helped to diffuse the tension.
Along with this incident, someone within or outside Payyanur likes to recall many an expression of authoritarian 'Leftism' in the past. Beneath the superficial layer of 'Left' one might sometimes see unabashedly expressed casteism and misogyny as betrayed in the case of burning an autorikshaw owned and driven by a dalit woman in Dec 2005.
A benign SMS message which was already already in circulation that had been sportively forwarded by a young teacher in a parallel college to his female student some time in 2006 had led to his being expelled from job at the behest of SFI /DYFI enthusiasts and finally to his committing suicide. Sending this kind of 'controversial' SMS to a girl student by a male teacher was judged as giving disrepute to both the institution and the girl (who will marry her then?).Jagadeesh, the teacher had been badly roughed up in public and in broad day light by the die-hard 'Leftists'. But again, the poor teacher also had a back history of 'antagonizing' the Party just by keeping aloof from it, in spite of his residing in a Parrish largely under the diktat of the Party. Speakers in a meeting organized by the colleagues of Jagadeesh and a few human rights activists in the small town of Payyanur also had been threatened by a gang of 'Lleftists' in ways similar to the Sacaria episode.
Lot of reported and unreported incidents like this do occur, but the party leadership unfailingly find reasons to justify such acts of vandalism.
(Please check today's Deshabhimani, preferably Kannur edition to see how the party answers; sorry, I haven't seen it yet)
When even bigwigs of the literary world, like Sacaria are not spared of such attacks, the small scale human rights fighters of Payyanur can definitely be proud of bearing the brunt of such attacks on many occasions in the past. But pitiable indeed, is the plight of those organizing progressive events under the auspices of organizations like Pu.Ka. Sa (Forum for Progressive Art and Literature), who have to be contented with a second class status meekly witnessing these acts of vandalism and yet not being able to speak out for the fear of ostracizing and harassment by the big people who really manage their shows.

Payyanur and its people are always taken for granted by the CPI(M) .
Each election is a cake walk for 'Left'.
The opposition parties on the other hand, are neither too ambitious to challenge the 'Leftists' on the electoral arena nor do they feel any such need . Because they are content with many things they already share with the 'Left'- for example, the development activities, the feudal moral and cultural fabric woven with a unique mix of caste and gender, and so on.
End result : Everybody may fell happy there in Payyanur, with the 'Left' taking care of the cultural /moral concerns of all, though a few (outcastes?) will continue to make noises here and there. Again, thank them for not showing any sympathy to the RSS unlike at least the few who might be disillusioned with the Left in the Party villages elsewhere in Kannur district!