It may sound unusual that a Congress MLA has created a renewed interest in a communist icon. But that is exactly what is happening with the iconic communist leader A.K. Gopalan—better known as AKG.
The autobiography of AKG , who was the opposition leader of first Lok Sabha, has gone out of stock—thanks to the 'paedophilia' comment made by young Congress MLA V.T. Balram and the controversy that ensued. Its publisher—Chintha Publishers—is going for a reprint as the entire stock of the 12th edition has been sold out ever since the controversy broke.
“We decided to go for a reprint of AKG's autobiography as most outlets reported the book out of stock in the past few weeks. It is indeed good news that more and more people want to know about AKG,'' K. Sivakumar, general manager of Chintha Publishers told THE WEEK.
It all started when Balram posted on Facebook, insinuating that AKG was a child abuser and that he married a child when he was already married to another person. He claimed to have cited from AKG's biography to prove his point. Balram was talking about AKG's relationship with Susheela Gopalan, whom later he married. Susheela was in her teen when they met, and AKG was almost double the age.
All hell broke loose when the communist icon was called a paedophile. His opponents alleged that Balram was misquoting the autobiography and asked his supporters to go ahead and read the autobiography first. Quoting the same, they argued that AKG was separated from his first spouse when he first met Susheela in 1943. Susheela, who later became a communist leader and minister in LDF Government, was 14 years old at the time, and the two got married after nine years, as per the book.
Balram was targeted both online and offline. While the cyber brigade of the CPM saw to it that he was abused left and right on online platforms, the young Congress MLA was also attacked and hurled rotten eggs at. While senior Left leaders including chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan were highly critical of Balram, Congress leaders A.K.Antony, Oommen Chandy and Ramesh Chennithala disowned Balram’s comment and expressed their admiration for the communist icon. AKG was respected across the political spectrum and it was said that the then prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru always ensured that he was in his seat whenever AKG rose to spoke in Parliament.
Balram, however, has refused to apologise so far. He has stuck to his comment and said that everyone should have the right to expression and to cite from sources available in public domain. When contacted, Balram told The WEEK that he did not want to comment further on the subject.
The controversy created by paedophilia comment about AKG had such national ramifications that Chintha is even planning an English translation of the same. “There is a strong demand for English translation of AKG's autobiography now. We will have it soon,” said Sivakumar.
The folks at Chintha Publication are a happy lot. “We are happy that many people, especially young ones, wanted to know about the life and realities about AKG,'' said Sivakumar.
Chintha has 36 sales outlets; according to him, Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam districts have the most demand.
“Even comrades who may not have read AKG till now have bought and read the autobiography. They may have done this to counter Balram but we are happy that so many read and tried to understand AKG. We are indeed grateful to Balram,” said another Chintha official.
