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New novel depicts EMS as demigod

George Iype in Kochi

Seventeen months after his death, Communist patriarch E M S Namboodiripad has been resurrected in Kerala through a controversial book written by the celebrated Malayalam novelist, M Mukundan.

EMS, the central character in Mukundan's Kesavante Vilaapangal (Kesavan's Lament), has become the subject of a heated public debate. It has also led to deep introspection by the Communist Party of India- Marxist, the party he shaped and nurtured.

The hot-selling new novel by Mukundan dissects EMS's persona, elevates him as an icon amidst his admirers, an infallible revolutionary of almost mythical status.

Literary critics have hailed the novel as a work of art with a post-modern narrative structure. But the CPI-M leadership and the party's ideologues are a bit embarrassed that the novel has portrayed EMS as a divinity who dwarfs the movement because of his stature. Mukundan, they feel, has given scant attention to the party itself and whatever mention is there comprises partial truths and exaggerations.

None other than EMS's son E M Sreedharan has criticised those portions in the novel where the late communist leader is depicted as a demi-god as in the following passage: "As he meditated with the question paper, the face of EMS entered his mind. The hair combed to the side, thick-framed spectacles and the white slack shirt....the meditation gave him self-confidence."

"It is a superb work of art. The only flaw in the novel is that it glorifies my father like a god. It is anti-Marxist to idolise individuals, politicians and thinkers. But it is happening throughout the novel," Sreedharan, who is getting ready to contest the Lok Sabha election on a CPI-M ticket in Kerala, told rediff.com

But Sreedharan feels Mukundan must have portrayed EMS in a divine fashion because "my father's influence on the Malayali psyche has been the biggest."

"I grew up seeing my father becoming a legend during my childhood. I have been his companion and follower all through his life. Therefore, I can associate myself better with the novel," he said.

"The novel is crafted well and I feel the occasional criticism of the CPI-M is constructive. By mixing facts and fiction, satire and style, Mukundan has created a new experiment in novel writing," said Sreedharan, who is depicted as Appukuttan in the novel.

Kesavante Vilaapangal is a story about a novelist who while composing a new novel feels a compelling identification with his protagonist.

The story revolves around Appukuttan, who from his birth looked at EMS as a hero and worshipped him like a god. Thus lying in his cradle, Appukuttan looks at EMS's portrait and loses his hunger and thirst. During school examinations, he meditates on EMS to gain self-confidence. As Appukuttan grows up, he imitates EMS in everything, from combing his hair to wearing thick spectacles.

The novel also narrates how during public rallies and speeches, the crowds look at EMS in veneration and awe and people talk of him as if he were a mythological character.

"The novel is full of idol worship and is a superfluous study of EMS. A deeper attempt to portray EMS could have made the novel a classic," CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan told rediff.com

Moreover, Vijayan added, Mukundan has not done justice to the party that EMS built. "Maybe the novelist wanted to detach the party from EMS," he added.

While some CPI-M leaders have denounced Mukundan's attempt to completely detach the party from EMS, Communist ideologue P Govinda Pillai feels the novel's narrative style that combines varying forms -- prose, poetry and satire -- is superb.

"But the novelist could have explored further to portray EMS as a great man along with his weaknesses like his famous double-speak and his many deceptions in politics," Pillai told rediff.com

"I feel Mukundan should have unravelled EMS the way Solzhenitsyn dissected Josef Stalin in First Circle," he said adding that Kesavante Vilaapangal is a novel "half-done, which has not brought out the real EMS."

Pillai added that the novel is a landmark in Malayalam fiction as it is the first work that deals with EMS's life and times.

For the Delhi-based Mukundan, his latest book is not the most famous. Years ago, he wrote Mayazhipuzhayude Thirangalil (On the Banks of the Mahe River) which continues to be a Malayalam classic.

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