CPI(M) accuses Satheesan of kowtowing to RSS’ bid to subvert ED to ensnare Pinarayi in false cases

Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] on Tuesday accused Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan of “slyly playing second fiddle” to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) national political agenda to weaken the secular opposition to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Central government by subverting the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as a cat’s paw to foist false charges against top Left Democratic Front (LDF) leaders, including former Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan in the CMRL-Exalogic pay-off case. 

CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan told a press conference that Mr. Satheesan’s statement that the government would not appeal the High Court single Bench order to register an FIR against Mr. Vijayan, his daughter T. Veena, and former Minister P.A. Mohamed Riyas, based on a legally dubious report filed by the ED, was the latest corroboration of Mr. Satheesan’s “enduring cosy deal and symbiotic association” with the Sangh Parivar. 

Mr. Govindan pointed out that the UDF indicted Mr. Vijayan and his family in an anti-corruption case at the drop of a hat, “ignoring the Advocate General’s advice that the Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s demand seeking an immediate FIR against the CPI(M) leader without a preliminary inquiry was opaque and did not establish a cognisable offence.”

In contrast, Mr. Govindan said the non-BJP governments in Tamil Nadu and Punjab had shown the legal and political grit to protect their constitutionally guaranteed jurisdictional mandate over law-enforcement matters from the Centre’s extra-judicial interference by rejecting similar ED demands to ensnare anti-Sangh Parivar leaders in false cases. 

“The All India Congress Committee (AICC) should state whether Mr. Satheesan’s dalliance with the RSS and its allied Central agencies had the national leadership’s imprimatur. The AICC should explain why Mr. Satheesan’s actions and statements in Kerala were at variance with the Congress’ national line against the BJP’s abuse of the ED and the CBI to settle political scores, weaken the secular opposition, and also arm-twist opposition politicians into throwing in their lot with the RSS,” he said. 

Mr. Govindan noted that, for political expediency and possibly to curry favour with the BJP, the government overlooked the fact that the Vigilance court, the High Court and the Supreme Court had dismissed a plea (filed by Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalnadan) to bring anti-corruption charges against Mr. Vijayan in the CMRL-Exalogic case.

Mr. Govindan said the UDF also wilfully discounted the ED’s attempt to indict Mr. Vijayan, which was based on statements extorted from two CMRL officials under “duress” and later legally recanted in affidavits, in haste to ensnare the CPI(M) leader in a false case.