Pinarayi’s Political Circus?

When chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan takes his cabinet in a specially designed ‘public transport bus’ through every assembly constituency this November, with a promise to serve the proletariat, it would be hard to differentiate the political gains from the loss in the cacophony it will invariably spawn. But the political juggernaut bankrolled by a nearly bankrupt state machinery is likely to produce three results, regardless of the objectives it is trying to achieve.

First, the CPM will be able to invigorate the morale of its cadres by weaving a stronger counter narrative for them to hold on when faced with an avalanche of allegations, especially corruption charges against party leaders right from Vijayan to Wadakkancherry municipal councillor P R Aravindakshan. The second result would be an unsaid, but loud, political statement that the CPM no longer considers decentralisation of power as a political objective. The pompous display of power would mean that the CPM has dumped the much-publicised People’s Plan Programme, which none other than E M S Namboothirippad had once claimed as the ‘next big thing after land reforms’, in the drain. The third result of the constituency outreach programme, to be known as Nava Kerala Sadas, would be its inevitable comparison with the Jana Samparkam (Mass Contact) programme which catapulted former chief minister and Congress leader Oommen Chandy into the position of a mass leader.

The outreach programme would prove to be a clear political propaganda tour of the LDF ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, says political scientist and psephologist G Gopakumar, adding that the CPM would achieve a resounding success in that endeavour. “The CPM knows how to run propaganda successfully. Even if the outreach fails in all other departments, it will succeed in driving home a political narrative that could convincingly charge the party cadres and sympathizers, irrespective of the allegations the party leaders face,” he said. However, political analysts reject the possibility that this would translate into actual winning of seats in the Lok Sabha election in view of the miniscule presence of the CPM at the national level, though it could work again in favour of the CPM in the assembly election. Many also consider the programme to boost the camaraderie among LDF allies.

Coming to the CPM’s complete U-turn from decentralized development politics that the outreach programme is set to demonstrate, many veterans in the party see it as an inevitable fallout of the unprecedented centralization of powers in the party and government under Vijayan. “There is no point in talking about political morality, Marxist ideology and all. It’s long gone in the CPM. The bewildering fact is that all powers are in the hands of one single leader. There is no place for decentralization of People’s Planning in this scenario where leaders are under self-imposed oblivion,” said a former CPM state committee member.

But political economists like K T Ram Mohan hold a different view. Knowingly or unknowingly the CPM was able to establish a ‘party state’ through the now defunct People’s Plan programme. The establishment of Kudumbashree and its success has helped the CPM to establish a micro level political network. “The CPM uses this network effectively and holds sway over Kudumbashree, irrespective of being in power or not. The People’s Plan thus served the political purpose of CPM,” he argues. If they really cared about decentralization, they would have taken steps to revive the same by this time.

The detailed note on the constituency outreach programme shared by the CMO clarifies that developmental issues to be addressed in the meetings would be handpicked by district collectors, a ‘feudal’ process the CPM had denounced when it proposed People’s Plan as an alternative development plan. “Taking ministers, chief secretary and district collector to solve local developmental issues is nothing but a clear U-turn from the principles of decentralization,” feels Dr Azad R P, a close confidant of late Marxist dissident Prof M N Vijayan.

Irrespective of all attempts by the CPM to present the Nava Kerala Sadas as a unique programme, it would be impossible to resist the public urge to draw comparison between the Jana Samparkam and Nava Kerala Sadas, given the fact that Oommen Chandy allowed people to come closer to him without any security concerns and other obstacles. Unless the chief minister shuns the practice of moving around under thick police cover and drop the condescension, the constituency outreach programme might not click well with ‘the common folks’. It’s exactly this concern that was heard at the CPI state council meeting held in Thiruvananthapuram this week.

What earned the worst criticism even from Left fellow travellers during the Loka Kerala Sabha programmes is the establishment of a new legion of citizens of greater importance called ‘Paura Pramukhar’ (important personalities) with whom CM interacts and holds luncheons to understand their development concepts. The CM’s routine in the constituency outreach programme is also set to begin with breakfast meetings with such more important personalities. “Differentiating people as ‘important’ and ‘common folk’ is highly unacceptable and purely anti-Left,” said academic and social critic Damodar Prasad.

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