RED'S THE COLOUR OF MONEY

A demolition drive gone awry(what else do you expect when the hunter becomes the prey), the Chief Minister and the state CPM secretary bad-mouthing each other in public, a professional college education policy which is an almighty mess, all this while Kerala is reeling under the monsoon, chikungunya et al and its commercial capital Kochi is a stinking mess with mounds and mounds of garbage.

What does the CPM have to offer? More grandiose words. CM VS now wants to fast outside the Prime Minister's residence. The only thing you can say is that it is " good television" visually and makes for a great headline. And you can count on VS to give expressive and long-winded soundbytes. On the flip side it's a nightmare editing his soundbytes as he takes his own time while uttering each word.

To sum it up, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.

But there are reasons for us to be grateful to him because of his "shooting from the hip" style. Would the revelations about CPM and CPI offices in Munnar being on encroached land have come to light? Not that he spilled the beans but at least his actions set the ball rolling for the media.

But he's still been an isolated voice, while the CPM's busy making itself a corporate giant. Kairali TV has three channels already, with a slew of promoters and shareholders including Mohanlal and Mammooty. No problem with making money, but what if responsible people in the party mouthpiece Deshabhimani take one crore rupees to help out a chit fund company facing a probe? And hobnob with lottery kings, while gobbling up two crore from him. And if this comes out in the open all the party secretary comes up with is "I'll fix you" to the Mathrubhumi (who exposed the story) editor. The Chinese approach to guided democracy, one supposes.

Now there are reports of their state headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, AKG Centre, having encroached on Kerala University land.

The ironic thing though is that disribution of wealth is considered far more uneven in the CPM than in the Congress when it comes to Kerala. Bribes apparently go straight to the very top unlike in the Congress where every level has to be placated.

Here's a scathing open letter to CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat published on ibnlive
http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/rajeshkumar/388/2211/any-jobs-in-cpm.html