Published Jul 22, 2026 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Jul 22, 2026 | 7:00 AM
A post, TC Rajesh, the author of Kallan Vijayan article, shared on social media.
Muggles are unaware of him. Those in Hogwarts — and the Wizarding World — know of his existence.
Witches and wizards do not dare to utter his name. Instead, they refer to him as “You-Know-Who” or “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!”
A taboo spell has been placed upon the name, such that Lord Voldemort or his followers may trace anyone who utters it, argues British author JK Rowling, who created the fantastical Harry Potter universe.
Likewise, in the world of Kerala CPI(M)’s political wizardry, there is one name that should not be uttered without care or casually.
A mention of a part of the name of CPI(M)’s apparent “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named” made Deshabhimani, the party’s mouthpiece, withhold its weekend edition, commemorating the first death anniversary (21 July) of former Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan, say muggles.
The daily brought out the edition a day late on Monday, 20 July, amidst denial that it was not the reference to “You-Know-Who,” but a technical issue had affected its publication on Sunday, 19 July.
CPI(M) knows it best. Muggles in Kerala don’t. Muggles being Muggles, refuse to toe the party line.
They argue that a tech glitch is impossible since electronic devices do not work in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry due to — as one Hermione Granger had indicated — high levels of magic.
Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Muggles (must be the bourgeois class) have even questioned the party. They say CPI(M) is no Hogwarts and the party’s magic has been lost along with its once revered ideological positions.
Well, now to the issue. It should have been a routine commemorative weekend edition, they say. It turned into an editorial headache, an internal disciplinary issue (“You-Know-Who” has been named) and, inevitably, a social media spectacle—all because of a man affectionately known as “Kallan Vijayan.”
“Kallan” is Malayalam for thief. The character mentioned is not a thief, despite his name carrying the explicit tag.
But by the time the higher echelons of the newspaper realised the “error”, it was already too late. Lord Voldemort has been mentioned. That too, in a headline.
Even Muggles know that explanations often arrive much later than headlines.
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The weekend supplement was meant to be a tribute to VS Achuthanandan, one of India’s most enduring communist icons.
Titled Muzhangunnippozhum Aa Kadalarambam (The Roar of That Sea Still Echoes), it carried reminiscences from colleagues, party veterans and those who had worked closely with Achuthanandan, celebrating the life of a leader who, for many cadres, still represents the conscience of the movement.
Muggles feel that conscience has been lost.
Somewhere deeper inside the supplement sat an entirely unrelated feature.
It told the story of Muthippara, a small village near Venjaramoodu in Thiruvananthapuram district that has quietly earned a reputation as a thriving theatre hub.
At the heart of the story was local theatre activist Vijayan, whose childhood nickname “Kochukallan (Little Thief)” eventually evolved into the identity by which everyone now knows him—Kallan Vijayan.
The article was hardly political. Neither did it refer to anyone else other than the theatre activist.
It celebrated grassroots theatre, community culture and Vijayan’s efforts to nurture Dhanya Nataka Gramam (Dhanya Theatre Village), a space dedicated to keeping amateur drama alive.
An interview followed. Photographs were taken. Layouts were prepared.
Then someone at Hogwarts — nee Deshabhimani — looked at the pages.
Front page: VS Achuthanandan.
Back page: Kallan Vijayan.
It’s sacrilege. A crime. Whoever has done it should be thrown into the prison atop the Dark Tower.
A model of Hogwarts at Warner Bros Leavesden Studios in the UK.
For the uninitiated, Rowling’s fictional Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has 20 main towers. The Castle of Hogwarts has 12. The Dark Tower is one of them—most mysterious, least visited, and with a prison, which has a stone bench and shackles.
Alarm boomed like Hogwarts Bell in Deshabhimani. “Off you go,” it chimed. Editorial panic needs only two words: in the latest episode, it was Kallan Vijayan.
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The newsroom was on fire. The issue was not content. It was optics.
In Kerala’s fiercely competitive political ecosystem, headlines often live independent lives. Screenshots circulate faster than explanations. Context is optional. Trolls are not.
Would political opponents seize upon the juxtaposition? Would the headline be twisted into something else? Would it become yet another round of political meme-making involving a former chief minister?
Those questions reportedly triggered an extraordinary late-Saturday night decision. Muggles were unaware of the chaos unfolding on a news floor. For them, it was a normal weekend night. They slept, many snored, a few with drooping eyelids even tried to “squeeze” the last drops out of containers procured from a particular government-owned outlets that make huge contributions to the state’s exchequer.
The already printed Sunday supplement was withheld. Distribution was stopped. Muggles who subscribed to the daily saw a boxed item on the front page the next day that mentioned “technical issues.”
When the magazine finally appeared a day later, on 20 July, the theatre feature had vanished altogether.
Officially, Deshabhimani maintained that reports of such an article were incorrect.
But the twist in the story had by then left the newsroom and was on its way to cyberspace.
The author of the article, TC Rajesh, uploaded the unpublished article on social media, ensuring that the feature reached far more readers than the printed magazine probably ever would.
He has by now received wide publicity. So did the article. And Deshabhimani‘s decision. The tech issue became clear.
The episode has since prompted internal questions inside the CPI(M). Show-cause notices reportedly followed. Editorial decisions are under scrutiny. Party leaders are expected to examine how an ordinary human-interest story evolved into an avoidable embarrassment.
Even Achuthanandan’s son publicly remarked that such a controversy should never have overshadowed a memorial edition.
Ironically, the only person whose fortunes may have improved is Kallan Vijayan himself.
Outside his village, very few people had heard of the theatre activist before this episode. Today, many know both his nickname and his theatre village.
Dear Reader, please note that we haven’t named, well, “You-Know-Who.” We want this article to reach you without delay. But the guess is yours.
By the way, what does Voldemort — first appearing in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone — mean?
Rowling claims it was an invented name, derived from the French vol de mort. It means “flight of death” or “theft of death”.
