“Water, water, everywhere.
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink…”
When Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote ‘The Rime of the ancient Mariner,’ little would he have thought that the words would best portray the scene in distant Kerala almost two centuries later. The famous lines not only depict the agony of the poor fishermen caught in Cyclone Ockhi, but paint the picture of the Left Government’s plight as well.
Ten days into the tragedy, the Pinarayi Government is still at sea, explaining hard the efforts it took for rescue and relief and fighting negative propaganda. The Chief Minister was criticised for not making a tour of the coast to console the poor souls and make it seen that he is hands-on.
The ministers who bothered to go were not spared either. Kadakampally was rapped for making an aerial survey while Mercykutty Amma drew flak for being harsh on the weeping women! And all the ruling folk were advised to take a leaf out of Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s ‘straight-from-the-heart’ approach. Mercykutty Amma deserves a pat amidst all the blame game though. She was candid enough to admit some mistakes and refused to be drawn into unfair criticism of Nirmala Sitharaman. “She spoke from her heart…” said the state Minister about the Union Minister from the BJP. A rare trait these days. .
Persecuting P V Anwar… the harvester
Talking of rain and water, another leader is being crucified for taking up a noble mission and being ahead of his times. P V Anwar is being persecuted for creating facility for rainwater harvesting, that too in one of the most remote parts of the state.
Defeatists would say he built an illegal check dam to facilitate his amusement industry. An offended Anwar finally came out himself to provide perspective. He was only ensuring rain water was being preserved and drew attention to the call made by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the state Assembly.
Now, don’t try to find fault again saying Anwar set out on this mission almost two years before the CM made such a call! We keep blaming leaders for lack of vision and finally when someone has shown it please don’t ridicule him.
Veeran’s coat is turning red, again
There is only one MP in Kerala, irrespective of political equations and which front is in power – MP Veerendra Kumar MP!
When his version of Janata Dal – social, democratic, united or whatever – left the Left front, we could comprehend it was because the CPM, its then state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and the LDF had lost the left direction and were diluting their ideology. Had it been any other party or leader we would have simplified it to being a retaliation for denying a Lok Sabha seat to their chieftain.
Now Veerendra Kumar’s ideological conscience is pricking him once again. With his national leader Nitish kumar making the unpardonable mistake of turning right, into Modi’s arms, he cannot sit idle. He did not even waste time convening the state committee of the present form of his party or consulting fellow leaders except M V Shreyams Kumar, before announcing the ultimate sacrifice – quitting the throne of Rajya Sabha MP thrust upon him by the UDF. The fact that the LDF has made the course correction he always wanted has been an added incentive to turn his coat red once more.
Had it been any other party or leader we would have been picking holes – the leader is not comfortable being away from power, he is irritated about the loss in the Lok Sabha polls, and is itchy as his party failed to win even a single seat.
However, as it is our Veeran, who cannot be swayed by such mean parliamentary fruits, we know that he is living up to the call of the times, to strengthen the hands of the Left to preserve secularism and fight communal forces! Can’t understand why Minister Mathew T Thomas is seeing red. He has come up with an early warning that a ‘political system’ has formed off Kanyakumari and the evil force is heading to Kerala with an eye on his party and its MLAs!