Working class party’s new theme in Kerala: revolution to resort

Two weeks back, a CPM-backed cooperative society was formed in Kozhikode to cash in on the state’s tourism industry. The new society has lined up a host of projects.

In Palakkad, a stronghold of party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, the CPM has identified a tract of land near Mannarkkadu for a tourism venture. “The project is at an infancy stage. Some businessmen close to the party are working out the details,” sources said.

The opening of the Rs 30-crore water theme park was another landmark in the CPM’s march towards capitalism, and came close on the heels of the fresh round of “ideological” war between Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and Pinarayi. VS has been opposed to the park, and when he claimed that he was “indisposed” and skipped the Sunday inauguration, much was read into it.

The MTDCL was formed in 2001 with CPM leader E P Jayarajan as Chairman. Right from the start, the project was mired in controversies as it was seen as a sign of the party’s “rightist” deviation.

To make fund mobilisation for the park easy, the party had formed a private company, Malabar Pleasures (India) Ltd. “Mobilisation of funds from the Gulf via a cooperative society was not easy,” sources said.

Opponents pointed out that the CPM, which led an agitation against Coca-Cola over “exploitation of water” in Palakkad district, could face the same charge over the park in Kannur. In fact, the park will have to definitely depend on water from the nearby Kambil river. But Parasinikkadavu being a party village, the CPM expects to get by without much protest.

Though the park has a rainwater harvesting system capable of storing 50 lakh litres, it may not suffice for operating 13 rides a day through the year. Asked about the daily requirement of water at the park, MTDCL Chairman Narayanan said he had not looked into that aspect.

The CPM’s choice of Kannur for the water park is also interesting. The region has been a hotbed of violence between the party and Sangh Parivar outfits, and unemployment is very high in this communist kingdom compared to other districts. The 300-odd jobs at the park have mostly gone to party workers, sources said, though the company had invited applications through newspapers.

Mixing business and politics

The water theme park is just the latest addition to the multi-crore business empire of the CPM in Kerala:

• CPM manages three satellite TV channels under Malayalam Communications Ltd. Liquor barons and Muslim League leaders associated with the UDF have also invested in the channel. A multi-storyed headquarters for the channel, Kairali Towers, is under construction in Thiruvananthapuram.

• Another CPM venture is the Kerala State Rubber Cooperative Ltd (Rubco), which began with an investment of Rs 280 crore in 1997. Pinarayi’s aide E Narayanan is the chairman of Rubco, in which eight CPM-controlled district cooperative societies have a major stake. Tinancial mess at Rubco has left many banks nursing losses.

• With E Narayanan as the chairman, a CPM society established a shopping mall in Thalassery.

• Party-controlled cooperative societies run multi-specialty corporate hospitals in Thalassery, Kochi and Perinthalmanna. The CPM also runs a self-financing nursing college in Thalassery.