Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan (centre) meets party workers in Kannur, May 2 (Photo: AP) THE MORNING of May 3rd, the day after a stunning electoral victory for Kerala’s Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM)-led coalition of which he is the spearhead, Pinarayi Vijayan was seated inside a Bombardier flying him from his hometown Kannur in … Continue reading Pinarayi Vijayan makes history. What makes him India’s most powerful communist leader?
Pinarayi Vijayan
Pinarayi Vijayan in the Driver’s Seat
Emboldened by its victory, the Kerala CPM will resist any bid by its central leadership to align with Congress anywhere Pinarayi Vijayan addressing after the election results, May 2, 2021 Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has made history by becoming the first incumbent in the state to return to power. The Left Democratic Front (LDF), … Continue reading Pinarayi Vijayan in the Driver’s Seat
“In Kerala, the Fight against Covid-19 Is a People’s Movement” – CM Pinarayi Vijayan
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Health Minister KK Shailaja have earned international accolades for their government’s coordinated fight to contain the Covid-19 pandemic in the state, which reported the first case of the fomite-borne disease in India. For a state that tops in remittances from abroad, its links with the Gulf region and the … Continue reading “In Kerala, the Fight against Covid-19 Is a People’s Movement” – CM Pinarayi Vijayan
Kerala Faces an Uphill Task as Maoists Seek Sanctuary in the State
KOYAMOOPPAN, AS HE is reverentially called by his Tribal community, is more than a century old, but he doesn’t know his real age. “Yes, I am more than 100 years old,” he says after making a few calculations that receive a nod from his octogenarian wife who keeps a close watch on him. Notwithstanding the … Continue reading Kerala Faces an Uphill Task as Maoists Seek Sanctuary in the State
Violence Between the Left and the Right in Kerala Unabated Despite Secret Parleys
ON THE MORNING of 30 July 2016, within two months of him taking over as chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, accompanied by leaders Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and V Sivankutty, broke protocol and drove down to Mascot Hotel, a heritage building that once housed British officers during the First World War. There was no pilot jeep and no … Continue reading Violence Between the Left and the Right in Kerala Unabated Despite Secret Parleys
A Report From the 22nd Party Congress of CPM
SPEAKING TO DELEGATES in Hyderabad on the fourth day of the six-day 22nd Party Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), its triennial summit, General Secretary Sitaram Yechury poked fun at what he called the ‘bourgeois media’ for their distorted portrayal of communists. He specifically named the Malayala Manorama, a Kerala daily, for carrying allegedly … Continue reading A Report From the 22nd Party Congress of CPM
Can the Indian Left Reinvent Itself?
Outside AKG Bhavan, the CPM’s headquarters in Delhi’s Gole Market area, barricades are in place with armed policemen on duty. India’s biggest Communist party in mainstream politics has been at the receiving end of violent protests in the past few years by rival political parties, especially Hindu nationalists, some of whom had barged in, fulminated … Continue reading Can the Indian Left Reinvent Itself?
When Pinarayi Vijayan Put Sitaram Yechury in His Place
LIKE MOST OF his puritanical predecessors in the Stalinist confines of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is a reluctant conversationalist. His interactions with the media are always guarded. He belongs to a generation of Marxists taught to be tight-lipped about the goings-on of the party apparatus, unlike the CPM’s … Continue reading When Pinarayi Vijayan Put Sitaram Yechury in His Place
Actor Dileep’s Arrest Is a Wakeup Call for India’s Misogynistic Film Industry
THE ARREST OF Dileep, one of Kerala’s most popular actors, over a plethora of charges, including gang rape, criminal conspiracy, blackmail, attempt to destroy evidence and an assortment of other alleged crimes, is a wake-up call for an Indian film industry known for its brazen misogyny, unaccounted-for wealth and cartelisation. It ought to send shockwaves … Continue reading Actor Dileep’s Arrest Is a Wakeup Call for India’s Misogynistic Film Industry
Pinarayi Vijayan: A Marxist in the Marketplace
MANY YEARS AGO, when his intra-party rival VS Achuthanandan was Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, who was then the chief of the ruling CPM’s state unit, attended an all-party meeting to discuss the width of state highways. It was a departure of sorts for a party strongman to turn up at such a gathering, … Continue reading Pinarayi Vijayan: A Marxist in the Marketplace
Ullekh NP 