PINARAYI VIJAYAN
Despite some setbacks, the Pinarayi Vijayan government is seen to have done a commendable job in its first year
A few setbacks notwithstanding, the Left chief minister is firmly in the governance groove
It was May 24, 2016, a day after his birthday and CPI(M) strongman Pinarayi Vijayan was finally realising a long cherished ambition—becoming chief minister of Kerala. Things were looking up, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) headed by his party, the CPI(M), had an absolute majority and long-time bete noire and party veteran, ex-CM V.S. Achuthanandan, had finally been sidelined.
A year down the line, though, things are not as certain as they were. For a man so set in his ways, Pinarayi has had to back down more times than he would have liked. He has found out that he cannot always depend on the people he had trusted. Their shortcomings have damaged the image of his government. But at age 72, when most politicians give thanks just for staying in office, Pinarayi is not afraid to begin anew. He has scored
unexpected victories (the NH widening and GAIL gas pipeline issues had been stuck for ages), won international accolades (for giving transgenders job reservations in the Kochi Metro and the welfare insurance scheme for the state’s migrant workers) and stood firm in the face of the gravest opposition.
Pinarayi always had the reputation of a man who gets things done, and this time too he set the agenda for the government as soon as he took over. Where he could be faulted is in selection of cabinet colleagues, most of whom are loyalists. The only exception is Dr Thomas Isaac, the popular finance minister (who he is accused of sidelining by not making him No. 2 in the cabinet, despite seniority and experience).
That aside, Kerala, for the first time, feels like it has a chief minister who means business. The change has been visible from the state secretariat down. Pinarayi has even managed to discipline the notorious non-gazetted officers union. Government offices are finally running smoothly with officers and clerks reaching on time.
A high priority was also the weeding out of corruption in public office. But that effort didn’t go exactly to plan. Jacob Thomas, a 1985 batch IPS officer, was made head of the vigilance and anti-corruption wing (ignoring the warnings of many), and entrusted with the task. When Thomas called on him before taking charge, Pinarayi assured him of a free hand. Thus began a series of raids and cases against the high and mighty, including public officials and senior IAS men.
The raids made Thomas both a hero and a villain. The TV channels celebrated his actions, but within the establishment there were mutterings that he had exceeded his brief. But Pinarayi refused to rein him in, even after he demanded files from the finance department of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board, a dream project of the CM’s. “Pinarayi made a strategic blunder giving a free hand to a man who wants to be in the news round the clock,” says a senior CPI(M) leader. “His actions in the initial days impressed the CM. But the harm he has done to the government will be permanent.”
Thomas’s ouster finally came after the Kerala High Court took exception to his ‘vigilance raj’ tactics. But by then, the damage was done. Inter-departmental spats, counter-charges of corruption against Thomas himself from his days as ports director... a whole new can of worms opened up. Pinarayi, to his credit, protected him until the situation became untenable. Meanwhile, another crisis was brewing in the home department. The CPI(M)-led government’s battle with ousted Director General of Police T.P. Senkumar became a huge embarrassment after the Supreme Court reinstated the top cop. Senkumar’s second term as Kerala’s police chief lasted barely two months (he retired on June 30) but his interviews since then have not been kind to the CM, the home ministry, or indeed the state police department itself.
But even with all the negative publicity, Pinarayi has not shied away from subjecting his government to public scrutiny. On June 5, he released a progress report of his government, a public document open to critical review. For the first time in India, a state government was telling the people to rate its performance through social auditing.
“Forget all the controversies, this is something unprecedented,” says Dr K.M. Abraham, an additional chief secretary in the finance department. “The CM’s made a great beginning by admitting where his
government has excelled and where it has fallen short.”
The report has the usual self-congratulatory plaudits, invoking achievements like the 213,745 new jobs created in the tourism and IT sectors, or the before-time delivery of uniforms and textbooks to poor students (usually it’s December and the half-yearly exam before they get it). But where the LDF government has really been successful is in getting the wheels rolling on long-delayed projects like the GAIL Mangalore-Kochi gas pipeline and the six-laning of the state’s national highways (minimum 45 metres width). These have been contentious issues for years, mostly over land acquisition in a densely populated state. Now, the progress on them, along with the inauguration of the Kochi Metro, has given people hope that things might finally be looking up for the state.
Pinarayi and his government have drawn up an ambitious four-mission plan for the next four years. This includes Haritha Keralam, an ‘umbrella mission’ which has under it integrated waste management, organic vegetable farming, afforestation, water resources management, even power generation through wind and solar energy.
The public education system is the second on the list. So, 45,000 smart classrooms are planned for government schools, another 1,000 will get an infrastructure upgrade, and a Rs 650 crore package has been readied to convert government colleges into centres of excellence. There’s even a Rs 900 crore package to help students struggling with their student loans. The other two parts of the four-mission plan are the Ardram ‘people-friendly’ healthcare project and
Mission LIFE, which hopes to ensure that there will be no homeless family in the state by 2020. The universal housing scheme will include some 200,000 homes in clusters.
Meanwhile, after the Kochi Metro, infrastructure upgrades continue apace. Ports are coming up in Vizhinjam and Ponnani; Kannur international airport, the fifth largest in the country, will be operational by year-end; and a ‘national waterway’, connecting Kovalam in the south to Kasargod in the north of the state is on the anvil.
Politically, too, the LDF government has been active. It has stood up to the Centre, denouncing its attempt to extend the ban on cattle slaughter in the predominantly beef-eating state. Pinarayi hasn’t hesitated over reversing the liquor ban either, saying the state’s finances, and the tumult in the tourism sector, demanded such a decision.
Pinarayi’s government has also been one of the big supporters of the landmark Goods & Services Tax. “With Kerala being a consumer state, its tax revenues will increase and this situation should help the state overcome the financial deficit in four years,” says finance minister Isaac. Of course, being a true Communist, he also derided how GST has “paved the way for reduced taxes on luxury items and excess tax for essential commodities”, saying it would lead to price rise and more class disparity.
All the above reforms, though, have still not got the chief minister on the right side of the media. Long-time friend and colleague, LDF coordinator Vaikom Viswan, says it doesn’t matter. “Pinarayi is not to be taken lightly. He has his priorities sorted and he won’t care for the challenges. He will find a way to achieve his objectives,” he says.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, though, is not too hopeful. “This is the worst performing government Kerala has had,” he says. “There is no accountability, the CM doesn’t even care to answer in the assembly about the home department’s functioning.”
BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan too is scathing, blaming the CM for engineering the attacks on party cadre. “Our boys are being brutally murdered. The law and order situation in the state is abysmal. What progress can Kerala make when Pinarayi rules?” he asks. The RSS and the CPI(M) have always been at each other’s throats in north Kerala, but the former has not fared too well since the Marxists took power.
But clearly, in the battle for minds, Pinarayi still has a lot going for him. “I rate this government as the most functional one to ever rule Kerala,” says one of the state’s popular New Wave filmmakers, Ranjith. “Compared to the last regime, no one can level a corruption charge against this government. Also, perhaps for the first time we have a government which has identified core areas of development and is working with a vision.”
Ranjith feels that Kerala needs a person like Pinarayi now to “carry forward its dreams”. “We have been victims of compromised politics for too long,” he says.
But problems from the past can still put a spanner in the works. The SNC Lavalin case—a CBI investigation alleges that when Pinarayi was power minister in the late 1990s, the Canadian company was given undue favours in hydroelectric projects—is pending before the high court. A ruling is expected soon in the case.
Catholic priest and popular media critic Fr Paul Thelakat has an interesting take on Pinarayi’s term so far. “As chief minister, he has excelled in most areas. But his image is still of a dictator. In government, one should develop free channels of feedback. Blocking this can paralyse a leader and the government. Some criticism is always good for a strong leader,” he says. It’s good advice, and Pinarayi would do well to take heed as his second year in government gets under way.
HE REVERSED THE LIQUOR BAN TOO, SAYING THE STATE FINANCES AS WELL AS THE TUMULT IN THE TOURISM SECTOR, DEMANDED SUCH A DECISION