One battle won, a Kerala MLA to continue war for justice for husband against ruling CPI(M)

On Monday, after the Kerala High Court quashed the acquittal of two CPI(M) leaders who were accused in the murder of her husband T P Chandrasekharan, MLA K K Rama said she would “continue” her “fight against the CPI(M) higher-ups” and uncover their “conspiracy”.

The High Court ruling came on an appeal filed by Rama in 2014, challenging the acquittal of some of the accused in the 2012 murder of Chandrasekaran. That fight for justice for her husband has come to define the Vadakara MLA of the Revolutionary Marxist Party of India (RMPI) — making her a face taking on the ruling CPI(M) in the Kerala Assembly and outside, especially over political killings in North Kerala.

A rebel CPI(M) group, the RMPI was formed by Chandrasekharan with the merger of splinter Communist groups from Kerala and Punjab.

An intra-CPI(M) rivalry, and a murder

Chandrasekharan and Rama started off with the CPI(M)’s youth wings, the SFI and DYFI. While Rama became the SFI vice-president in 1992, and Chandrasekharan its state joint secretary, later she did not pursue a full-time political career though her husband did.

In 2008, the couple were thrust into the violent politics of the CPI(M) in Kozhikode district, when the party high command directed that the Eramala village panchayat president post be left for the party’s then ally, Janata Dal (S). The local cadre, including Chandrasekharan, opposed the decision, and he went on to form the RMPI soon after.

Over the years, while other such grassroot groups in Kerala against the CPI(M) petered away, the RMPI managed to remain afloat, even if only in certain village panchayats falling under the Vadakara constituency.

In the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Chandrasekharan contested as an RMPI candidate and secured