It was a monsoon-soaked morning in Thiruvananthapuram on June 22, 1959. Prime Minister Nehru landed at the capital’s airport by a special aircraft from Delhi to be received by Chief Minister EMS Namboodiripad, and others. The Prime Minister’s visit was to personally examine the reported collapse of the state's law and order following the “liberation struggle” (vimochansamaram) against the EMS ministry, India’s first non-Congress and Communist state government. Spearheaded by Christian churches and Hindu caste organisations like the Nair Service Society (NSS) and backed by the Congress-led Opposition, including the Muslim League, the struggle was marked by widespread violence and counter-violence. All along the Prime Minister’s route from the airport to the Raj Bhavan, crowds stood on the sides shouting slogans and raising placards demanding the two-year-old EMS ministry’s dismissal by the centre. When they met again in the evening, Nehru asked EMS, “How could you make so many enemies in such a short time?” Back in Delhi, a hesitant Nehru, under pressure from his daughter and Congress President Indira Gandhi, had President Rajendra Prasad dismiss the EMS ministry on July 31.

It shouldn’t be surprising if Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan faced the same question Nehru asked EMS today. Since 1959, few state governments in Kerala have faced the kind of all-around hostility that the present three-year-old Left Democratic Front (LDF) government has, as shown in the recent Lok Sabha election. In my four decades of journalism, I don’t remember when the CPI (M) became a target of more collective wrath from the entire Malayalam media than now. Perhaps the only exception was the above-mentioned EMS ministry of the Vimochanasamaram days, which met widespread antagonism across political and religious spectrum and a belligerent press.

However, there are a few fundamental differences between the two occasions. The hostility against the EMS government was triggered by the radical land reform and education bills that it brought to undermine the entrenched and vested interests of powerful feudal, religious and caste groups. Will even its staunchest supporters credit the present government with radical steps of similar historic dimensions? On the contrary, much of the public and media ire against the present government has been caused by the CPI(M)’s repeated mistakes, excesses, arrogance, and stubborn refusal to admit or explain its follies. Compared to the stunning scandals and criminal cases involving the members of CPI(M) from top to bottom almost daily, the few allegations against the 1957 government, like the Andhra rice deal, etc, look trivial. Moreover, there was no trace of any wrongdoing in the name of families and friends of ministers or top leaders at that time. Indeed, days were more innocent then.

The second difference is that no direct or sustained agitations are being waged by the Opposition or religious/caste groups against the Pinarayi government. In 1959, Kerala........

© Mathrubhumi English