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Opposition vanishes in Kerala, people suffer

NewsOpposition vanishes in Kerala, people suffer

CPM has found out that ‘people are to blame’ for its defeat in the Lok Sabha polls.

 

New Delhi: It may sound harsh, but the truth is that the Left Front government in Kerala is getting away with murder simply because there is no Opposition worth its name in the state. Otherwise, how will one explain the things that have been happening in the communist ruled state?

While the Congress, the main Opposition in the state, is still basking in its victory in the general elections, which in no way was a reflection on the party’s popularity in the state, the BJP is still rueing over its lost chances in the Lok Sabha elections while waiting for another “divine intervention” as in the case of Sabarimala. In May this year, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government completed three years in power, dotted with political killings and government clampdown on people’s right to protest. In February, as general elections loomed, two Youth Congress workers were hacked to death in the northern Kasaragod district, allegedly by CPM men. It was reportedly done by party goons from neighbouring Kannur. The state leadership of the CPM came out with the bizarre argument that “no sensible party worker would do such a thing at the time of an election”. The underlying point is that it would have been quite natural for the party cadre to kill if the elections were not on. For public consumption, CPM suspended a lower level functionary, whom the party had identified as one of the killers, from the primary membership of the party. The Congress made some noise for a few weeks and then became busy with the elections. Days before the counting, a brutal attempt was made on the life of a CPM rebel, who contested against the party candidate in the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency. Here too the mission was implemented in the “Kannur style”, but with a minor flaw. The victim miraculously survived, but his statement indicting the CPM legislator from nearby Thalassery as the man behind the attack was not recorded by the police. The case is supposedly still on.

Meanwhile, the CPM, which lost the elections, after a lot of deliberations has found out that the “people are to blame” for its defeat. Then in June came the news of the suicide of an NRI investor who was denied permission to start his business by the chairperson of the municipality who happens to be the wife of a CPM Central Committee member. CPM refused to take any action against the chairperson and instead suspended three officials of the municipality. Once again, there was some noise by the Opposition which died down in no time. Soon after, a part-time private financier was found dead while in police custody in Idukki district. This was the sixth custodial death after the Left came to power in 2016 and happened a year after the murder of a 26-year-old, arrested on mistaken identity in Varapuzha, off Kochi, in central Kerala. Once again, as the finger of suspicion is being pointed at certain local CPM leaders in the financier’s death, the government is protecting higher officials who, the locals say, are involved in the murder. There has been no concrete effort on the part of the Opposition to bring justice to the dead man’s family. Both the Congress and the BJP have failed even to organise a protest march against one of the most gruesome custodial deaths in recent memory. Finally, the onus was on the family members to take out a procession to the state secretariat, demanding justice. No Opposition parties were present at the protest meet. More reports about police brutality are coming out on a regular basis, but the Opposition is nowhere to be seen. Congress’ Leader of the Opposition, Ramesh Chennithala is content with issuing a statement condemning the incident and asking for the resignation of the Chief Minister, who also holds the home portfolio. There is no leader among the BJP to issue even a statement.

Never before in Kerala politics has there been an Opposition in such disarray as is the case now. Had the CPM been in Opposition, the state would have witnessed violent protests, police firing and a government kept under siege; not that such destructive protests should be welcome, but at least it helps keep the government of the day on a leash. No such things happen these days in Kerala. The complacency on the part of Opposition parties is unpardonable, if not deplorable. Whatever protests that had taken place in the past three years have been people-led struggles, not one led by any Opposition political party—be it the mass upsurge against laying of pipelines without proper safety guarantees by the Gas Authority of India in Kochi and Kozhikode or the agitation by “Vayalkilis” to protect their remaining paddy fields in north Kerala. All such mass movements were put down heavily by the communist government which talks eloquently on people’s right to protest. For that matter even the Sabarimala issue erupted following the spontaneous outburst of upper caste Hindu women against the Supreme Court ruling. Later, political parties joined the issue hoping to capitalise on it. The end result is there for everyone to see. What Kerala is witnessing is a peculiar situation. The CPM may be rejoicing over the irrelevance of the Opposition in the state, but that is not good for the people of Kerala. It is time the Congress and the BJP woke up to the reality and put their plans in order to strengthen the democratic process in the state.

 

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