If one is surprised by the recent sex scandal and the ensuing moral policing, which has led to the resignation of a minister in the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government, chances are high that she might have little insights into the political history of Kerala.
Sex, coupled with moral policing, have always played a crucial role in determining the political discourses in the God’s own country. And, both the Right and the Left, have been caught equally in this intricate web of sex, deceit and morality.
Former Transport Minister A. K. Saseendran, the sole nominee from the NCP in the Vijayan cabinet, had to resign after a regional TV channel aired an audio clip of a sexually explicit phone conversation involving him. However, he is only one among the many ministers who lost their berths, thanks to controversies involving sex and sleaze.
Kerala has had its first political sex scandal barely five years after the state was formed. It involved an all-powerful P. T. Chacko, the then home minister in the R Shankar ministry.
However, those were much more innocent days and did not involve any phone tapping or hidden cameras.
All that happened was a car breakdown. The minister, who was travelling to Peechi Dam site on a vacation, met with an accident and rumours started spreading that there was a lady in his car at the time of the accident.
And it opened a Pandora's box.
All hell broke loose in the puritan society that Kerala was at that time. The Opposition left no stone unturned to tarnish the image of the government. Though chief minister R Shankar tried to justify Chacko initially, he had to give in following protests from the Congress party itself. Chacko had to eventually resign from the ministry.
This incident, in fact, is a turning point in the history of Kerala, as it in a way led to the breakup of the Congress party and formation of Kerala Congress.
The next was the infamous ISRO sex scandal of 1995. Though no politician was directly involved in the scandal, the group fight within the Kerala Congress party ensured good use of the controversy, eventually leading to the resignation of K. Karunakaran as the chief minister. A K Antony took over and it led to the end of decades-long Karunakaran-era in the state politics.
The next in line was the ice cream parlour sex scandal involving the IUML leader P. K. Kunhalikutty. The allegation was that an ice cream parlour in Kozhikode was used as a cover for a prostitution racket and the minister was allegedly involved with many minors.
But Kunhalikkutty, the then minister for Industries and Municipalities in the A. K. Antony cabinet, overcame the storm, thanks to his absolute domination in the IUML and also the party’s clout within the UDF.
Nevertheless, the same controversy haunted him a decade later when he became industries minister again in the Oommen Chandy cabinet. Public protests forced him to resign in 2005. To top that, he suffered a lethal defeat for the first time from his pocket borough of Kuttipuram in Malappuram district next year.
It is a different story that he was back to the centre stage of Kerala politics within no matter of time.
Meanwhile, another minister in the LDF government lost his berth in 2000. Neelalohithadasan Nadar was holding the portfolios of transport and forest in the E. K. Nayanar ministry and had to quit after an IAS and an IFS officer accused him of sexual misconduct.
The next turn was of P. J. Joseph, a Kerala Congress leader and Public Works Department minister in the V. S. Achuthanandan cabinet, who had to quit a few days after the Left Democratic Front government completed 100 days in office. This time the resignation happened after a co-passenger accused him of misbehaving with her in a flight.
In another incident, two powerful leaders in the CPI(M) were expelled from the party following allegations of sexual misconduct. One was P Sasi - the all powerful political secretary of former chief minister E. K. Nayanar, who was expelled over allegations of sexual misconduct towards lady comrades.
The second was another powerful CPI(M) leader Gopi Kottamurikal, who had to resign as the Ernakulam district committee secretary after he was allegedly caught in camera in compromising situations within the office premises. The group fight within the party, too, had played a crucial role in the ouster of these leaders.
Similarly, an AICC member and a senior Congress leader Rajmohan Unnithan was dragged into controversy after he was caught along with a woman in a house, courtesy the moral policing of the youth wing of the CPI(M).
Not to forget, the solar sex scandal during the previous UDF regime, which surpassed all previous ones with its high dosage of sleaze and also the involvement of certain personalities who wanted to remain in news no matter how. Though it essentially was a financial scam, nobody remembers for it to be so.
All that is still fresh in the public memory is the juicy details of that scam that involved many top notch politicians.
In a similar case, Jose Thettayil, another MLA from the LDF camp, was caught on camera in a compromising position. This led to the end of his political career despite the fact that the Supreme Court had later dismissed a petition alleging sexual harassment against Thettayil and had observed that the charges leveled against the MLA were politically motivated and aimed at trapping the JD (S) leader.
According to noted writer Paul Zachariah, the reason for these unprecedented numbers of sex scandals in Kerala could be the high level of moral policing and the inherent male dominance in the society. This can be changed only with conscious efforts, he says.
“That sex is not sin and that it is a private matter has to be inculcated from a very young age. Only with such a training, this attitude will change,’’ Zachariah notes.
Political observer M. N. Pearson says these issues are problems faced in a “closed society’’ like Kerala – despite its high level of education -- where men and women do not even share a bus seat, he says. "I believe an overdose of puritanism and fake morality is a major reason to this unprecedented number of sex scandals in Kerala society. The society believes that a politician of his age should not have done this. The fact Saseendran did not defend himself is a proof to the fact that he also shares the same morality concerns. It is a sad state of affairs.”
