Kannur: The atmosphere was so charged up. A huge gathering of party supporters was listening to the fiery speech of CPM district secretary KK Ragesh. It was a party meeting in protest against the alleged Youth Congress attack on the CPM local committee office at Malappattam.
What provoked the party leaders and workers of Kannur district was the audacious foot march led by Youth Congress state president Rahul Mamkootathil on Wednesday at Malappattam, considered an unassailable fortress of CPM in Kannur district. The Youth Congress march was organised in protest against the destruction of a Gandhi column at Aduvappuram, near Malappattam, in front of the house of Youth Congress leader Saneesh. They alleged that the attack was done by CPM activists of Malappattam.

On Thursday, Ragesh was at his impetuous best. In an attempt to ignite the emotions of party supporters, he quoted poetry, invoked Kannur’s political history and reminded the crowd of the sacrifices and commitment of martyrs and former leaders.
However, in the heat of his oratory, Ragesh made a literary goof-up. While quoting a poem by renowned German playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht—written in 1946 as a tribute to Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky—he mistakenly attributed the verses to Mayakovsky himself.

Ragesh recited the poem in Malayalam, using it to mock Rahul Mamkootathil and highlight what he portrayed as the insignificance of the Youth Congress leader before the might of the CPM in Kannur. The lines he quoted roughly translated to: “I escaped from the tigers and fled from the sharks, but was being eaten up by bedbugs.” The powerful metaphor was intended to depict the futility of the Youth Congress campaign.
Yet, the attribution went awry. The lines were indeed from Brecht’s Two Epitaphs for Mayakovsky, not by Mayakovsky.
Here is the original poem by Brecht:
Two Epitaphs for Mayakovsky
Epitaph for Mayakovsky
I escaped from the tigers
I fed the bedbugs
I was eaten up
By the mediocrities

Epitaph for Mayakovsky
I escaped from the shark
I bagged the tigers
I was eaten up
By the bedbugs
(1946)

Whether the mix-up was a momentary lapse or a genuine misunderstanding, the incident has triggered quiet amusement among literary circles and critics who noted the irony of a poem about being consumed by mediocrity being misquoted in a moment of rhetorical fervor.

A day after the speech, Ragesh put up a Facebook post on Friday—evidently an attempt to cover up his mistake during the speech—quoting the poem again, this time attributing it to the original poet, Bertolt Brecht.