EP is an honourable man, says the CPM at least for now. But its near-exoneration of EP Jayarajan, the party’s Central Committee member and Left Democratic Front convenor embroiled in the controversy over his meeting with BJP’s Kerala in-charge, Prakash Javadekar, begs more questions. Among them is: So, what about Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s proverb about Lord Shiva and the sinners? Has the infected lord been cleansed of the sins by the party? The CPM has again failed to give a convincing reply to the grave charges, increasing the suspicion that the party’s effort is to prevent more damaging revelations from surfacing.

On the face of it, the meeting between Jayarajan and Javadekar can hardly be called a crime. Will anyone shut the door on a visitor without reason, especially when he is a known political leader and a former Union minister? Will Congress’s V D Satheeshan or Ramesh Chennithala refuse to let Javadekar to their homes if he visits them? In fact, a mature and healthy democracy should brook personal interactions between leaders of rival political hues. It was strange to hear a senior news anchor repeatedly questioning what on earth Jayarajan and Javadekar should discuss other than politics when they meet.

However, it would be very different if Javadekar’s visit had to do with Jayarajan’s alleged moves to join the BJP. Yet, unless there is concrete proof for the claims -however sensational they are- made by BJP’s Sobha Surendran and “Dallal” Nandakumar, Jayarajan’s statement that he never discussed politics with Javadekar, let alone about his joining the BJP, should be taken at its face value. Neither is the charge........

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