Reel life meets Real life in Kerala – One BJP worker dead… Or was it a CPI-M comrade?

Sandesam (The Message) is a 1991 Malayalam movie written by actor Srinivasan and directed by Sathyan Anthikkadu, the master craftsman. The move remains an all-time classic for the way it was conceived, filmed and directed. Each and every dialogue delivered by the cast is packed with sarcasm, criticism, and satire. What made the movie great was it was a mirror image of Kerala’s social and political life. Though the movie was released in 1991, it continues to hold sway whenever it is screened in TV channels or in theatres.

On Saturday, a group of BJP workers was assaulted by the CPI-M activists at Kapiamangalam in Thrissur district.

The film revolves around two brothers and their family. Srinivasan, the elder brother is the local leader of the Revolutionary Democratic Party (Communist party for real), who considers himself as an intellectual and party ideologue. His younger brother Jayaram is an activist of the Indian National Secular Party (INSP, the Congress) and is always at loggerheads with his brother.

The movie begins with the change of government in the State capital. The election to the assembly saw the RDP getting voted out and INSP forming its government. Sathyan has portrayed all the ambiance associated with the change of guard at the capital city and how it is received by the common man. Since RDP lost power, the morale of the party workers was at its lowest ebb. One day they hear the news that a dead body was lying in the town square.

Srinivasan tells his party comrades that they should take possession of the dead body, cover it with the party’s red flag and stage a demonstration all over the town with it. “We are getting a martyr and it is sufficient for us to launch an agitation against the government,” says Srinivasan and they rush to the spot where the dead body was seen. Before they reached the cite, the INSP activists under the leadership of his brother Jayaram stake their claim over the body. They claim that the dead person was an active worker of their party and he was murdered by the party rivals.

Srinivasan and group raise their claim as the atmosphere gets vitiated. Both the groups engage themselves in fisticuffs and physical assault. It is time for the police to interfere and they use mild force to disperse and keep the agitators off the dead body. “This is our dead body and we want it. We will not allow anyone else to touch our dead body,” argue the RDP activists. The INSP activists too claim: “No, this is our dead body and it should be given to us”.

The inspector interferes at this stage and tells them: “This dead body does not belong to your group or to the other group. It belongs to the dead person. Please allow us to take it to the hospital for autopsy.” One of the funniest scenes ever portrayed till date in Malayalam cinema!

It is not known whether Sathyan Anthikkadu and Srinivasan had a premonition that this reel life incident would turn into a real-life incident 26 years after the movie Sandesam was opened for public exhibition. This is what has happened in Thrissur, the hometown of Sathyan Anthikkadu on Sunday (November 26, 2017).

On Saturday, a group of BJP workers was assaulted by the CPI-M activists at Kapiamangalam in Thrissur district. The injured were admitted to a hospital. On Sunday, Satheesh (47), one of the injured persons succumbed to his injuries in the hospital. The BJP workers who were attending to him in the hospital said he had joined the BJP recently and that was why he was assaulted by the CPI-M ruffians. While the BJP activists were planning to stage a befitting farewell to their martyred colleague, the CPI-M activists took control of the victim’s house and made his widow sign a statement declaring that the deceased was a CPI-M activist and he was murdered by the BJP! A re-enactment of the Sandesam movie.

There are only two options to escape from the clutches of the CPI-M mafia, either the party has to expel/ oust the worker or order his murder.

The media in Kerala, considered to be servile to the CPI-M, went to town literally blasting the Sangh Parivar for murdering a comrade. Satheesh was reportedly murdered because he violated the cardinal law of the CPI-M. In Kerala, you can never resign from the CPI-M. The party leadership would decide the fate of the person who wants to quit the organization. In normal circumstances, the CPI-M leadership would oust/ expel the person from the party with instructions to the cadre and party sympathizers not to have any kind of relation or association with the ousted party worker. If the party worker is an intelligent and knowledgeable person, the CPI-M leadership would sentence him to death, which will be implemented by the special executioners groomed and maintained by the party. There are only two options to escape from the clutches of the CPI-M mafia, either the party has to expel/ oust the worker or order his murder.

There are thousands of CPI-M activists waiting in the wings to cross over to other parties but are frightened of the country bombs, sickles, swords and hammers employed by the professional executioners of the party. This is in synch with the Muslim community. A Muslim can never get converted to other religions. If he/ she decides to get converted to other religions, he would be instantly murdered by the private religious police groomed by various Islamic extremist organizations.