Magsaysay an anti-Communist, Shailaja's refusal historically right: CPIM

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM) is firm on its stand on former Kerala health minister KK Shailaja’s refusal to accept the prestigious Magsaysay award instituted in the name of former Philippines President Ramon Magsaysay.

Amid criticism that the had party had created yet another ‘historical blunder’ (denying its veteran leader Jyoti Basu prime ministership during coalition government formation in the 90s being the first), party general secretary Sitaram Yechuri has stated: “An award in the name of Raman Magsaysay who has the history of brutally oppressing the communists in Philippines in 1950s cannot be accepted by the Communist Party.”

The state secretary MV Govindan also made it clear that receiving an award in the name of a person who is a known anti-communist is against the principles held by the communist party.

Deshabhimani, the Malayalam daily and mouthpiece of the party, has put out a detailed editorial note on the historical reasons for the denial.

As far as CPI(M) is concerned, this is not a historical blunder, but a historically right decision especially in the current context of growing intolerance towards democratic principles.

The Deshabhimani article asserts the popular view that Raman Magsaysay was ‘America’s poster boy’ whose victory was celebrated by Time Magazine as the ‘victory of US’.

Manila, the capital of Philippines was the headquarters of CIA in Southeast Asia and the entire strategic planning for bringing Raman Magsaysay to power was executed by CIA, says the article written by VB Parameshwaran, the Resident Editor of Deshabhimani.

His victory was manufactured and executed by the diplomatic and military officials of US government that wanted complete control in Asia. During the Second World War, Philippines was viewed as the ‘gateway’ to Asia by the US government.

Also read: Shailaja’s Magsaysay award refusal ‘a collective decision of CPI(M)’

Social media however was awash with arguments for and against CPIM’s decision to decline the award.

“If a list of historic blunders could be made available in advance, one could have tried to avoid them in the future!” Dr Ramakumar, a member of the planning board, said in a sarcastic response to the news report that called the denial “a historic blunder”.

“To present the news of an Indian female communist leader – K. K. Shailaja – politely declining the offer of the Ramon Magsaysay award for 2022 as a “historic blunder” is not just sheer stupidity but also a grand display of the writer’s ignorance of what Left politics means. It is news worthy of reporting, but to editorialise it as a ‘second historic blunder’ smacks of intentions that can hardly be noble,” states Ramakumar in his Facebook post.

He goes on to add to the Deshabhimani piece, saying Magsaysay was used by the US government to “finish off the ‘communist menace’ in Philippines”. The primary intention was to suppress the Huk rebellion, the peasant uprising led by the Communist Party, that took place in late 1940s and early 1950s.

”Magsaysay’s 4F motto about Communists is famous: ‘Find them; Fool them; Fight them; Finish them; then offer them the hand of peace’,” writes Ramakumar.

Dr KP Aravindan, a public health expert and a known Left loyalist, threw a poser to critics who wanted Shailaja to accept the award — “What if Rahul Gandhi would be nominated for an award in the name of Savarkar? Will Congress party go for it?”

Kerala’s opposition UDF and Congress leaders have not made any statements against the CPIM for rejecting the Magsaysay award. The UDF has always harped on the line that the Shailaja’s fame as a Health Minister who led the succesful fight against Covid-19 and Nipah pandemic was more the result of a PR campaign executed by the national and international media.

Former KPCC president Mullappally Ramachandran’s derogatory reference of Shailaja as ‘Covid Rani’ has left it in a delicate position wherein it is not able to criticise the CPI(M) for rejecting the Magsaysay.

Another ‘what if’ probability being thrown around on social media is whether the party would have taken the same stand if the person nominated for the award was the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Allegations are also being made that those who strongly dislike Shailaja within the party have pulled the strings to deny her the Magsaysay award, considered as the Nobel Prize of Asia.

CPI(M) leaders have however unanimously stuck to the stand that the decision is politically and historically right and there is nothing personal about it.