Anniversary article on Achuthanandan triggers storm in Kerala CPI(M) as ‘Kallan Vijayan’ dropped

Thiruvananthapuram: What began as a commemorative edition marking the first death anniversary of former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan (VS) has snowballed into one of the biggest editorial controversies faced by the CPI(M)’s party organ ‘Deshabhimani’ in recent years.

After a day’s delay officially attributed to technical reasons, the newspaper’s weekend supplement was finally released on Monday with the controversial article on theatre activist ‘Kallan Vijayan’ (in English, it can be read Thief Vijayan) removed.

The special edition, headlined “Muzhangunnippozhum Aa Kadalarambam (The roar of that sea still echoes)”, carries reminiscences on V.S. by several writers, including his former Press Secretary K.V. Sudhakaran.

The memorial features occupy both the front and back pages of the supplement.

The controversy, however, centred on another article that had originally been slated for publication in the same issue.

Titled “Kallan Vijayan, Dhanya Nataka Gramam, Muthippaara P.O.”, it profiled noted theatre activist Vijayan of Pullampara, popularly known as “Kallan Vijayan”.

According to sources, a section within the editorial team objected to the layout, pointing out that placing V.S. Achuthanandan’s photograph and memorial on the front page while carrying the bold headline “Kallan Vijayan (Thief Vijayan)” on the last page could invite political ridicule and deliberate misinterpretation.

The concern was that the juxtaposition of the two pages might be portrayed as an insult to the late communist stalwart.

The disagreement reportedly escalated into an editorial dispute, resulting in the last-minute suspension of printing and postponement of the weekend supplement, which was to have come out on Sunday.

Although Deshabhimani maintained that the delay was caused by technical issues, the controversy deepened after Resident Editor M. Swaraj denied that any article on Kallan Vijayan had ever been prepared.

He dismissed reports about the article as baseless and insisted there was no editorial issue. That claim, however, was soon challenged by Kallan Vijayan himself.

The theatre activist said Deshabhimani representatives had contacted him, collected information about his life and work, and requested a group photograph, which he had provided.

He said he had been informed that the article would appear in the weekend supplement but had no explanation as to why it was ultimately dropped.

His statement directly contradicted the newspaper’s official position and fuelled further questions over the handling of the episode.

Amid mounting criticism from a cross-section of society, which alleged that the party newspaper had mishandled a memorial edition dedicated to V.S., Deshabhimani opted to rework the supplement.

The edition released on Monday carries only the memorial package, while the article on Kallan Vijayan has been omitted in its entirety.

The CPI(M) is now expected to conduct an internal inquiry into the episode.

The investigation is likely to examine whether there was a deliberate attempt to include the “Kallan Vijayan” article in the V.S. memorial issue, why it was scheduled alongside the commemorative pages, who approved the layout, and how the newspaper’s official explanation came to differ from the account given by the theatre activist himself.

The controversy has highlighted not merely an editorial lapse but also exposed apparent contradictions within the party newspaper’s own narrative, turning what was intended to be a tribute to one of Kerala’s tallest communist leaders into an avoidable political and media storm.

IANS