Pinarayi Vijayan

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan. 29: A former MP who joined the Congress after he was expelled from the CPM for praising Narendra Modi has claimed that the most powerful Left leader in Kerala had told his comrades that they should learn from Bengal how to eliminate enemies without leaving behind any trace.

A.P. Abdullakutty, now a Congress MLA, said that in his former avatar as a comrade, CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan had “advised” him and others to take lessons from “Bengali” counterparts on executing political adversaries. Vijayan denied the charge.

“We should learn (how to kill adversaries) from Bengalis. They do it without shedding even a drop of blood. The (rivals) are kidnapped and buried in deep pits with a sack of salt added. The world will not (even) know about the blood, picture (of the victim) or news,’’ Abdullakutty quoted Vijayan as having said at a closed-door meeting of CPM leaders in the northern Kannur district in 2008.

Abdullakutty’s allegations appeared in his column in the Congress’s Malayalam mouthpiece Veekshanam daily today.

The said meeting on March 5, he claimed, was held in the background of CPM-RSS clashes in the volatile Kannur. Five persons from both sides lost their lives in the clashes.

“The then chief minister (V.S. Achuthanandan) had called a peace meeting in Kannur. Prior to this, Vijayan chaired a meeting at the Azheekkodan Memorial (the CPM district committee office) to formulate the stand the party should take at the peace meeting. I was present at the meeting. Other important party leaders from the district, including MLAs and MPs P. Sathidevi and P. Karunakaran, were also in attendance.

“Before the meet concluded, Sathidevi told Vijayan that she and other Left MPs had to bow their heads in shame in the Parliament when BJP MPs brought colour photos of corpses of those killed in Kannur to the House. The BJP MPs also raised banners of headless and mutilated corpses in the House, she said and requested Vijayan that the political killings should be brought to an end.”

This was when, according to Abdullakkutty, Vijayan made the controversial remarks.

“I was shocked by Pinarayi’s explanation. My tongue had dried up…. I left the party office in a disturbed state of mind.… This could also have been one of the experiences behind my decision to leave the CPM,” he added.

“After the peace meeting, we MPs returned to New Delhi. During the Parliament session, I told this to my friend Suresh Kurup (former CPM MP and now party MLA). Kurup, too, was disturbed. Subsequently one day, I met (a) Bengal MP… while having coffee at the Parliament Central Hall. In the presence of Kurup, I put this question to (the Bengal MP). He replied ‘Yes comrade, Bengal line is very simple. Your Kerala line is old barbarianism. Not even a drop of blood is shed in Bengal. The world will not see even the bones.’ Kurup and I sat astounded,” Abdullakutty wrote.

Other than Vijayan, the Kerala politicians named in the article and could read Malayalam had not responded till late this evening. This newspaper is not publishing the then Bengal MP’s name today since his reaction could not be sought because of the late hour.

The CPM in Bengal had come under attack from the Opposition parties over alleged political killings and disposing of the bodies during its uninterrupted three-decade-long rule, especially in Nandigram, Garbeta and Keshpur. Former CPM minister Sushanta Ghosh was arrested by the CID for his alleged complicity in the 2002 murder of Trinamul supporter Ajay Acharya, whose son filed an FIR following the discovery of skulls and bones of five persons from a pit near the CPM leader’s ancestral home in West Midnapore.

In 2001, Trinamul had alleged that 11 of its workers were killed at Chhoto Angaria in West Midnapore and their bodies dumped. The bodies were never found.

Vijayan denied the charges. “Someone referred here about someone quoting me saying about killings happening at some place…. This person was never included in any such matters, so I never had to discuss details related to those issues with him,” he told a media conference.

Abdullakutty, who was expelled from the CPM in 2009 on the charge that he praised Modi’s developmental efforts, stuck to his charge. He told The Telegraph he was fully aware of his responsibilities and would not distort facts. “Former party colleagues whom I have referred to in the write-up may deny this, but I stand by what I said,” he added.