Allegations fly as CPI-M tries to doctor Kerala's history

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

The communist-led Kerala government's decision to ''retouch'' the state's history is creating history of sorts. The historian who is in charge of the project has quit, the three-member government committee overseeing the project has shrunk to two, and allegations are flying left, right and centre against the Communist Party of India-Marxist.

Prof A Sreedhara Menon, the historian in question, put in his papers because he was not ready to record history the way it ''suited the CPI-M''. P Govinda Pillai, the CPI-M member on the committee, resigned as he did not want to be associated with a project ''like this''.

Menon's grouse is that the government wanted him to rewrite the book -- which he had already finished -- in consultation with veteran party leader E M S Namboodiripad. "There was no such condition when I was commissioned," Menon who is the South Indian History Association president told the Rediff On The NeT. "The chief secretary said I would have full freedom to complete it in an objective manner."

Political parties, Menon continued, have their own views on historical events. ''But I can't see history through the eyes of any particular party. Historians cannot do justice to history by associating with political thinking," he said.

Namboodiripad, however, claimed Menon resigned as he was not ready to accept ''certain historical realities''. The historian was unwilling to give credit to the CPI-M's struggles and the contributions made by Pazhassi Raja and Veluthampi Dhalawa in forming a united Kerala four decades ago. Nor was Menon ready to acknowledge the role of Kayyur and Punnappra Vyalar struggles (which the Communists had waged) in forming Kerala, it was alleged.

State Congress president Vyalar Ravi was extremely happy about Menon's decision. He said the government appointed Namboodirpad as a consultant to the project ''to stifle history''. The communists are, according to him, adept at writing history to suit their stance.

Bharatiya Janata Party parliamentary board member O Rajagopal said it was insulting that the committee was forced to take the suggestions of "a CPI(M) leader who has been trying to give the communists a role in history which they do not deserve".

Meanwhile, Menon intends to take the controversy to its logical conclusion. He proposes to publish the book (which runs into some 200 pages) in both Malayalam and English shortly, whether or not the government funds it.