LDF government celebrates second anniversary
TRIVANDRUM:KERALA state capital Trivandrum witnessed high-voltage protests on Saturday as the Let Democratic Front (LDF) government celebrated its second anniversary.
Congress party-led United Democratic Front (UDF) supporters turned up in large numbers early in the morning and laid siege to the Secretariat, the seat of power.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which drew a blank in the state elections, also staged protests banking on the rising anti-incumbency sentiments.
Ignoring the demonstrations, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan released his government’s progress report at a public rally held in downtown Putharikandam grounds.
The government is spending one billion rupees on the publicity blitzkrieg it launched, including ads in the state and national media highlighting its “achievements.”
“With its unique model of inclusive development, Kerala has emerged as an exemplar of people-centric progress,” the ad reads.
“Discover the real Kerala story, where dreams thrive, and humanity flourishes under the Pinarayi Vijayan Government, which celebrates its second anniversary.”
Two years back, the Communist Party of India-marxist (CPI-M) veteran returned to power, bucking the trend of alternating between two domineering coalitions in the state.
Though freebies and the promise of stability helped the LDF, the opposition says the sharp rise in prices fuelled by the tax hike across the board has changed popular sentiments now.
“They are terrorising people with high taxes. It’s tax terrorism that rules here,” leader of the opposition in the state assembly VD Satheesan said addressing demonstrators.
“They are celebrating the increase in power and water tariffs, imposing an additional cess on petrol and diesel and hiking permit fees for building construction steeply.”
Both the ruling and opposition parties used the occasion to launch their campaign for the national elections barely a year away.
Though the Congress is in alliance with the let parties wherever they have some support, they are traditional rivals in this communist redoubt.
Neither did Vijayan get an invite to the swearing-in ceremony of the Congress government in Karnataka, which turned into an opposition show of strength Saturday.
However, the energy that the spectacular victory in the neighbouring state provided was visible in the large crowds that turned up at the “siege” that paralysed the city.