Conflicts with CM Pinarayi cause behind assault on me, recollects Shaji Pandyala
4 min read Express News Service
KANNUR: “Is this the way a communist leader should present his arguments? The top leader of the party boasts about something he had done years back to scare away a gang of goons. If he doesn’t have any ideas to present before the people during a pandemic, he better seek the support of someone capable of that in his party,” says Shaji Pandyala, referring to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Shaji (57) – son of the late Pandyala Gopalan among the many tallest leaders in Kannur — is himself a sufferer of the political violence within the district as he was crushed up by alleged CPM staff in 1993. He was with MV Raghavan and an lively chief of his get together, CMP, then.
“This man (the CM) has an inflated ego, which has no parallels in the history of politics in Kerala. He just cannot stand anyone who could cast a shadow of threat in his path. When he gets wounded, he would go to any extent to see that the person standing opposite bites the dust. Unfortunately, it happened to me too,” Shaji says.
He says his father was Pinarayi’s mentor in politics.
“Though my father used to say that one has no right to be in politics if a rival cannot be respected, his disciple Pinarayi could not grasp the spirit of that message,” Shaji says.
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He says Pinarayi hated him for a lot of causes, a few of which he wouldn’t have the ability to communicate of in public. He recollects an incident, in 1983, in reference to an try by a piece of CPM leaders to take over a parallel school in Thalassery.
“Pinarayi was only a district committee member then but he played a role in that attempt. I was too young and was with the SFI. Along with some teachers, we had staged protests. During a march in Thalassery town, I raised some slogans against Pinarayi,” says Shaji.
The problem was taken up by the get together because it had grow to be a tussle between Pinarayi and the Dharmadam native committee, and a conciliatory assembly was attended by leaders together with Pinarayi and Pandyala. Shaji was requested to tender an apology to Pinarayi.
“I said all members in the party have equal rights. I am ready to apologise. But Pinarayi too should apologise for his unwanted intervention in the issue,” Shaji reminisced.
He relates one other incident in reference to a category carried out on the Kannur district committee workplace for SFI college students.
“P Govinda Pillai was to conduct the class. For some reason, he couldn’t come and Pinarayi Vijayan took his place. Instead of holding a class, he merely went into the details of the lead story in Desabhimani that day. When I joked about it later, he took it as an insult and pointed his finger at me in anger. I too pointed my finger towards him, saying that nobody is superior regarding rights in the party,” Shaji says.
A 3rd incident occurred in reference to the SFI agitation towards the Pinarayi Industrial Cooperative Society, he says. Pinarayi Vijayan was the president of the society then and the scholars had staged a dharna in entrance of the society workplace concerning an ITI course problem.
“As Pinarayi saw students sitting in front of his office, he kicked some of them to clear his way. The students were agitated and shouted slogans against him. He thought that I was behind the agitation and his rancour increased,” says Shaji.
He left the CPM through the interval and joined palms with MV Raghavan and his new get together, CMP.
“Since I was a good orator, MVR wanted me to speak at public functions organised by CMP. My speeches might also have irked Pinarayi,” he says.
When MVR grew to become the minister for cooperation, Shaji was given the duty of organising establishments in Pinarayi, thought-about a CPM bastion.
“In 1993, I was able to collect Rs 4 lakh for the society we were planning to set up from Pinarayi alone. We had constructed a building at Pinarayi which was razed down by CPM workers during the AKG Hospital election and the violence that followed in the district. Even the foundation was demolished,” says Shaji.
Following the violence, Shaji too was attacked by CPM staff in February 1993. He says.
“As I got down from a bus at the hospital bus stop in Pinarayi, around 10 CPM workers attacked me from behind as I was drinking tea from the shop nearby. They attacked me with iron rods and knives. The attackers blocked vehicles towards both sides and ensured that nobody would take me to the hospital. Mambaram Divakaran, who heard about the incident, reached the spot in two jeeps with his workers and took me to a hospital in Thalassery. From there, I was taken to the Manipal Medical College. As I remained unconscious for three weeks, people thought I wouldn’t survive,” Shaji recollects.
He says the assault was so brutal that he’s unable to stroll correctly now.
“What you see is a lifeless body. These people cry over democratic values, but see what they have done to me. What was my fault? I stood up against Pinarayi Vijayan and said what I felt was right. That was the only reason for the attack,” Shaji says.
Though a police case was registered in reference to the assault, Shaji couldn’t show something towards those that had attacked him.
“They walked freely before my eyes ridiculing me. That is the style of politics adopted by Pinarayi Vijayan, the top leader of CPM in the district,” says Shaji, who shouldn’t be lively in politics anymore.
