THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Communist Party of India (Marxist), which heads the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) coalition government in the state, takes pride on being the only political party in the country that acts against its members accused of sexual misconduct.
In line with that policy, the CPI(M) State Committee suspended P K Sasi, party MLA in Shoranur, from the primary membership of the party for six months after he was accused of sexual misconduct by a woman leader of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI). Strong stuff indeed.
The decision came in the wake of the findings by a two-member commission appointed by the party to probe the complaint filed by the woman DYFI leader with the State Committee. The committee found Sasi, a member of the Palakkad District Secretariat, guilty of conduct unbecoming of a senior party leader.
But is mere suspension enough? That is the question being bandied about not only in party circles but also by the opposition parties.
The answer to that crucial question is an emphatic No. L’affaire Sasi is not a mere party affair which can be settled at the party level. The law of the land requires that any complaint of sexual misconduct be immediately handed over to the police. The state CPI(M) leadership did nothing of the kind. In fact, it sat tight on the complaint for over two weeks.
The party swung into action only after it was directed to do so by CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury to whom the woman leader forwarded the complaint in view of the inaction of the state party leadership.
Expectedly, leaders of both the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) and the BJP have demanded that the police take suo moto action against Sasi in the wake of the disciplinary action by the party against him.
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala has said – and he is right – that the issue cannot be closed with the action taken within the party because it is a sexual harassment case. The CPI(M) decision, Chennithala averred, is nothing but an open challenge to the legal system existing in the country. Therefore, the police must take action against him and produce him before the law, he contended.
BJP state president P S Sreedharan Pillai agreed with Chennithala’s stand. The CPI(M) action against Sasi is nothing but a farce, he said, adding that Sasi would be reinstated to the position he held in the party at the end of the six-month period.
Both Chennithala and Pillai are on a strong wicket. The CPI(M)’s history is littered with instances of leaders accused of sexual misconduct being reinstated after serving out their ‘punishment’. Two names that spring to the mind immediately are P. Sasi, who was the powerful private secretary to former chief minister late E K Nayanar, and Gopi Kottamurikkal, who was Ernakulam district party secretary. Both are back in the party now.
Significantly, the disciplinary action against Sasi came when the opposition mounted pressure. What proved to be the last straw was the strong letter veteran leader V S Achuthanandan wrote to Yechury. In his letter, VS reminded Yechury that hushing up of sexual misconduct cases would bring a bad name to CPI(M).
VS has a point. After all, the CPI(M)-led LDF came to power mainly on the planks of an anti-corruption campaign and security and safety of women. Going soft on sexual harassment cases would inflict irreparable damage on the party’s reputation and credibility. Incidentally, Sasi belongs to the anti-VS faction within the Palakkad unit of the CPI(M). He is also regarded as a close confidant of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. That explains the reluctance to act against him.
An immediate upshot of l’affaire Sasi is that the CPI(M) would lose the moral right to demand police action against opposition leaders charged with sexual misconduct henceforth. That is not a happy position for a party committed to the cause of women’s empowerment.
The CPI(M) can redeem itself only if it decides to hand over the case to the police. Such a course of action alone will silence the CPI(M)’s detractors who are, understandably, twisting the knife in the party’s wound. Will the CPI(M) leadership muster the courage to do that? One has to wait and see. (IPA Service)
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