World of M N Vijayan

It has been 18 years since Professor M.N. Vijayan—a Leftist scholar of great repute, an incisive writer and orator, a social critic and an unyielding political activist whom Kerala has ever seen—collapsed and died in the middle of a press conference in Trissur, Kerala.

In his numerous public speeches, Vijayan spelt out his forebodings of the various manifestations of authoritarianism and the advent of oligarchy in political organisations. The role of media in manufacturing tastes and preferences, predilection for fascism as a media construct, etc., along with his other themes, compose the political and cultural dimensions of his interventions.

In his last press conference on October 3, 2007, in Thrissur, where he collapsed (and died) after speaking a few words, he called upon the people to be vigilant, as the ‘bus’ is already running on the wrong track.