THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In his concluding address at the state-wide Nava Kerala Sadas last Saturday, a confident Chief Minister had termed it the rarest chapter in the history of democratic governance. He claimed that his public outreach program, a first-of-its-kind initiative, had expanded the popularity of the Left government.
Going by the volume of response, Nava Kerala Sadas received close to 6.2 lakh complaints. The government had set certain deadlines to resolve the complaints. However, it is yet to come up with final data on the percentage of grievances addressed. There are indications that some special officers could be entrusted with the task of coordinating and resolving these complaints.
That apart, a close look at the 'Sadas' shows that there were more misses than hits during the 36-day-long 'Sadas'. Though the cabinet on wheels was a great initiative aimed at winning public attention ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, constant instances of violence initiated by immature interventions by DYFI, preventive custody, and Pinarayi Vijayan’s reluctance to disown violence, took the spotlight out of the 'Sadas'.
Though the 'Sadas' succeeded in setting new political narratives, the Left failed to turn it into an effective poll campaign.
A section within the Left itself feels that the array of violent episodes during the 'Sadas' should have been avoided. Had the chief minister or the CPM state secretary intervened in the initial stage itself, DYFI activists wouldn’t have engaged in open violence throughout the 'Sadas', they feel.
The resentment within the party was well reflected by senior CPM leader G Sudhakaran, who disowned the violence on Tuesday. It was the bureaucracy that was running the show rather than the political leadership, observed Left commentator N M Pearson.
“It was a political failure on the part of the CPM. The 'Sadas' would have been termed as a path-breaking initiative if not for the violent clashes, especially the street fights between DYFI and Youth Congress. Right from the decision to take protesters into preventive custody, the bureaucracy took over from the political leadership. And worst, the political leadership, especially the Chief Minister, endorsed the violence. It sent out a wrong message to the cadres,” he pointed out.
Politically the Left was able to energise its cadre ahead of the polls. But so was the case with the Opposition too. The Congress, which was lying low for a long in the state’s bipolar political scenario, got a lease of life towards the fag end of the 'Sadas'.
The CM’s endorsement of the DYFI violence and his double standards towards black flag protests - Youth Congress protests against CM and SFI protests against the governor - not just exposed him, but also brought together warring factions within the Congress to put up a united fight.
The tiff with Governor Arif Mohammed Khan indeed created an impression that only the Left could take on Sangh Parivar. With a couple of months remaining for the elections, the "cabinet on wheels" could have been the Left government’s flagship attempt to reach out to the masses and win back their confidence. It had all the making for the same.
Its failure to go for course correction despite public outcry and lack of party control over governance could prove to be costly for the Left government in the long run.