CONGRESS CAPITULATES TO THREAT OF MLA ACCUSED OF SEXUAL MISCONDUCT

In a major political setback to the Congress in Kerala, the Crime Branch of the Kerala Police has constituted a Special investigation Team (SIT) to probe the accusations of sexual misconduct against Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil.

In view of the digital nature of the alleged offences, the SIT would comprise cyber-forensic experts. The crime branch has registered a Zero First Information Report (FIR) to initiate the investigation process. The Police, initially, was hesitant to file the FIR as none of the aggrieved parties have come forward to register a complaint against Rahul on social and conventional media. What helped the Police to go ahead was a  widely circulated audio recording of an anonymous person compelling a woman to terminate her  pregnancy outside the marriage at the peril of her life.

Mamkootathil, however, denied the accusation that the voice in the voice clip was his. But he has not cared to serve legal notices on his accusers. Nor has he demanded a police investigation. Reports have it that the Crime Branch would summon Rahul to present himself before the investigating officer at the earliest. The SIT, it is learnt, would submit the confiscated devices to court and seek the magistrate’s permission to conduct a cyber-forensic examination. Besides the police, the Kerala Women’s Commission has suomotu
ordered a probe into the allegations against Rahul. If the Commission receives evidence that offences
were committed, it will also direct the police to register a case.

This is in contrast with the abject failure of the Congress to take strong action against the Palakkad MLA.
All that the party has done is to suspend him from the party’s primary membership. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President Sunny Joseph said Rahul has not resigned as MLA because in Kerala, there is no precedent of an MLA relinquishing his office, even if they are indicted in criminal cases! The fact that Rahul’s disqualification from the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) barred him from attending
parliamentary party meetings or representing the United Democratic Front(UDF) Opposition in the Assembly is in itself strong action, Joseph claimed.. If he has been deprived of all these ‘powers’, then what is the point of his retaining the MLA’s post? That is the question posed by the political rivals. The Congress has no answer to the query.

The chapter is over with Rahul having resigned from the Youth Congress president’s post. This was the contention of All India Congress Committee general secretary Deepa Dasmunshi.

The growing perception is that the Congress has meekly submitted to Rahul’s threat to spill the beans against senior party leaders. Top leaders, including Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan, Ramesh
Chennithala and K. Muralidharan, who had initially demanded strong action against Rahul, including his
resignation from the MLA’s post, have developed cold feet and opted to maintain a deafening silence since. Such is the fear of Rahul and his mentor Shafi Parambil, MP, among the seniors in the party. To hide the real reason for the failure to force Rahul into quitting the MLA’s post they have started saying that his resignation would necessitate a by-election that would benefit the BJP in Palakkad, one of the strongholds of that party!

Rahul’s steadfast refusal to resign as MLA shows the extent of the politics of criminalization, which has blighted the party. The top leaders have completely lost the moral power to discipline the second rung leaders indulging in wrongdoing because they themselves are perceived as being tainted. One thing is for sure. The Rahul episode has considerably weakened the Congress and the party-led UDF, which fancied itself as firmly set on the comeback trail in Kerala. There is no mistaking it.

The Rahul issue would have an adverse impact on the prospects of the Congress and the UDF not only in the local bodies election later this year but also and the Assembly polls due early next year. The CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front(LDF) is in possession of a powerful weapon against the UDF which it can be expected to use with all the force at its command. It would appear that by refusing to get Rahul to quit his MLA’s post, the Congress has committed political hara-kiri.