All those who said it would take a liquor bottle to unite Marxists and the Catholic Church for a common cause, can pat themselves on the back for their foresight. It has happened. In Kerala, the CPM leadership is as worried about alcoholism (even if opium was supposed to be the priority scare) as the state?s church leaders are. The alliance was foretold, it seems, almost forged in heaven… or should that be the climactic stage of historical materialism? Whatever. The war on booze reached a flashpoint during a recent CPM party meet. The party?s top apparatchik in the state, Pinarayi Vijayan, decided to exercise his power by scolding party cadres for their ?spirited? behaviour during the event, even as his words were telecast live by umpteen regional TV channels. But party insiders were heard mumbling that what provoked the party secretary?s outburst was not the drunkenness on display, but the ?cheers? that Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan was getting from party cadres.
Crass war
An angry debate rages in Kerala over exactly who is responsible for inflation?the state government or the Centre? According to the ruling Marxists, the Congress-led government in Delhi is to blame for this capitalist creation. However, the opposition Congress has pinned the price problem on the state?s CPM-led government, which it alleges is unbothered by the plight of the common man. The party has has even staged a hartal in protest against rising prices, making its commitment to the cause clear. Ever since Congress president Sonia Gandhi joined the fray, coming down heavily on Kerala?s ruling dispensation for inflation, the war cries have grown even more hoarse. And the words even more angry.
The state?s aam aadmi, however, must miss the simple days when a class war was the only war in town.