With Kerala CPI-M’s organisational polls underway, the prospect of the first party woman district Secretary failed to materialise on Monday amid speculations that state Health Minister Veena George might be named for Pathanamthitta district, but fearing a backlash, senior party leaders decided to appoint veteran former legislator Raju Abraham to the post instead.

This is in stark contradiction to the popular myth peddled by leftists, that Kerala is the most progressive and literate state because of Communists.

In the last six decades, the CPI-M in Kerala has had no woman Chief Minister, or a state chief, and and not a single woman leader has even served as party district Secretary in any of the present-day 14 district committees.

Thus, it has been coming under fire over poor representation of women in the party’s internal framework. Journalist-turned-two-time CPI-M legislator George is a protege of the power Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and eyebrows were raised when after winning a second successive term, he opted for her as Health Minister and did not retain outgoing Minister K.K. Shailaja who had won accolades for her work during the Covid pandemic.

On Monday when it came to selecting the new Pathanamthitta district secretary and a new district committee, even though Vijayan and the top party bosses preferred to bring in George, they, after getting a feel that if the move goes to the ballot, then she might lose, decided not to back her and Abraham was unanimously selected as the new Pathanamthitta district CPI-M Secretary.

Abraham who has a huge following in the district and has been the legislator from the Ranni assembly constituency from 1996 till 2021, does not fall into the good books of Vijayan and that was one reason he was not given the chance to contest the April Lok Sabha elections from the Pathanamthitta Lok Sabha constituency.

Earlier, veteran woman leader and former minister J Mercykutty, who served in the 2016-21 Pinarayi Vijayan cabinet, was billed for the post of district Secretary in Kollam, but, at the last minute, this failed to happen when the decision came that the incumbent district secretary was chosen to continue for a second three-year term.

After Mercykutty failed to enter the party record books, hopes were high that George would but now with that also failing to happen, all eyes are on the remaining district committee meetings to see if a woman will be named. It remains to be seen whether Shailaja, the popular legislator from Kannur, will get the chance to become the first woman district committee Secretary.

At present, the 17-member state secretariat has only one woman, while there are two women from Kerala in the Central Committee.

The newly formed Central Committee is expected to elect a new Politburo at the upcoming 24th Party Congress in Madurai in 2025. While the CPI-M, which often speaks about gender neutrality, has yet to appoint a woman to a top post in the state, the Congress in Kerala can take pride in having appointed Srikutty Malu Amma as state party President in 1952.

–IANS

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The post ‘Progressive’ Communist-Ruled Kerala Myth Busted, CPI-M Dumps Naming Health Minister Veena George As First Woman District Party Secretary Fearing Backlash appeared first on The Commune.

Kerala Health Minister Veena George often praises the standard of health care offered to the state’s people, but in her own constituency, Pathanamthitta, conditions at the district hospital are far from optimal.

On Tuesday, visuals coming out of the Pathanamthitta district hospital showed attendants and Class IV employees carrying patients from the second and third floors of the building to the ground floor, as the only lift in the building had not been functioning for days. As the operation theatre is on the third floor and the labour room is on the second floor, it is common to see patients being carried up and down on stretchers for and after surgeries.

Angry Youth Congress workers at the hospital compound said that when the hospital development committee highlights the shortfalls causing patient difficulties, authorities answer that things are all fine.

Asked about the facilities, an elderly woman, seen taking the flight of stairs, said: “Things are not that good, but since we belong to the party (CPI-M), we cannot say anything as we will have to face the music“, and disappeared quickly. Another woman said she has been frequenting the hospital since September 13 and found that the lift has not been working.

George has been representing the Pathanamthitta constituency ever since the CPI-M pulled her out of a Malayalam TV channel where she was the news anchor in 2016 and fielded her in the state elections that year. It was after her second successive win in 2021 that she became a surprise choice for Kerala Health Minister, replacing the veteran party colleague K.K. Shailaja.

–IANS

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The post In Kerala Health Minister’s Constituency, Patients At Govt Hospital Carried Down Stairs As Lift Out Of Order appeared first on The Commune.