Since mid-August, an independent MLA elected under the banner of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) from Nilambur constituency in Malappuram district has been rocking Kerala politics. Puthen Veettil Anvar aka P.V. Anvar has been in the limelight because he raised allegations against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his political secretary P. Sasi, and a group of police officers led by ADGP M.R. Ajit Kumar.
The State watched bemusedly as the ruling coalition MLA kept on strengthening his tirade against the government. His charges included nepotism, corruption, criminality, illegal wealth amassment, and communal bias.
But those watching Mr. Anvar’s face-off with the government were surprised to see it worsening into a showdown in the last week of September when the Chief Minister and his party, the CPI(M), disowned him. Reports indicate that Mr. Anvar held discussions with the DMK leadership in Tamil Nadu on Sunday ahead of his planned announcement of a new party.
Mr. Anvar hogged Malayalam TV news channels for hours on end as he continued his broadside. “If this situation continues, the CPI(M) will not even get 25 seats in the next Assembly election in Kerala,” he said.
Mr. Anvar minces no words. The CPI(M) compares him to P.C. George, the former Kerala Congress MLA from Poonjar infamous for his acerbic tongue. Mr. George has been dumped by both the ruling and Opposition fronts in Kerala. “Anvar too will meet the fate of P.C. George,” CPI(M) Malappuram district secretary E.N. Mohandas said.
Political family
Hailing from Edavanna in the traditional Mapila region of Malappuram, Mr. Anvar, 57, claims himself to be a social worker with a great political family legacy. His father P.V. Shoukath Ali was a freedom fighter and had hosted first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at his house. “I grew up in a strong Congress base. So did the Communist ideologue E.M.S. Namboodiripad,” Mr. Anvar would say whenever his Communist pathways are under question. The CPI(M) never considered him a party man, but he emerged as a popular independent backed by the CPI(M) in Nilambur, Malappuram.
Most political parties, be it the Congress, the Muslim League, the CPI or the CPI(M), are wary of Mr. Anvar because of his unpredictable and brazen nature. A graduate in economics, he was an active Kerala Students Union member and college union chairman at MES Mampad College, Mampad, in the mid 1980s. He became Youth Congress district vice president and a trusted ally of current Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran when he was the State Forest Minister in the early years of 2000. Shifting allegiance, Mr. Anvar joined the Democratic Indira Congress (DIC), formed by former Chief Minister K. Karunakaran.
He started his electoral assays in 2011 when he contested to the Assembly from Eranad with the tacit support of the CPI(M). When the UDF’s P.K. Basheer triumphed by polling 58,698 votes, Mr. Anvar became the runner up with 47,452 votes. After an unsuccessful Lok Sabha attempt from Wayanad in 2014, Mr. Anvar tasted his first electoral victory from Nilambur in 2016, which he repeated in 2021.
Controversies never deterred him; rather they chased him throughout his life. “I was born in fire, and sunshine cannot wither me,” he says.
He has been involved in many ongoing criminal cases, including the murder of autorickshaw driver Manaf in 1995, illegal construction in the ecologically sensitive area of Kakkadampoyil, land grabs, and cheating. His gutsy and confrontational style has won him many followers. But the alienated ruling party appears certain to take him on for the damage Mr. Anvar caused for the government, particularly its Chief Minister.
His dormant cases are most likely to be revived and given teeth. Fresh cases have begun to be slapped against him, the latest being a violation of Officials Secrets Act. The coming days are going to be more turbid and testing for Mr. Anvar.
Published – October 06, 2024 01:34 am IST
