CPM wants more say in Kerala Governance
The two-day brainstorming session of the CPM’s Kerala state committee held last week prepared a detailed document that is to serve as a ready reckoner for ministers in the party-led LDF government and their personal staff members for negotiating daily administrative dilemmas. Its timing—framed within three months of the second Pinarayi Vijayan government assuming office—and the assertion that the party state committee will decide on all policy matters are clear indications that the cadre party is keen on having better control over the government.
While the first Pinarayi government had a free hand in governance and took crucial policy decisions without proper debates within the CPM or LDF, things may not be the same again if the party has its way. The document cautions about the possible dangers that await a government that is elected consecutively, asking leaders to analyse what had happened in the states of West Bengal and Tripura, and in socialist countries where communist parties had been in power for long. “Tendencies of persons finding happiness by concentrating power to themselves need to be dealt with sternly. Power shouldn’t be used for enforcing personal agenda,” it warns.
In 1957, when elected to the office for the first time, the CPI state committee had prepared a vision document that said, “By becoming the ruling party, we now have the responsibility to protect the reasonable demands of all people.” In letter and spirit, the latest document should be seen as an extension of the 1957 guidelines prepared for the E M S Namboodiripad government. It’s understandable why the party wants to assert itself at this stage. Having secured a historic second term, it is aware of the pitfalls of success and doesn’t want a repeat of West Bengal in Kerala. The message it wants to give out is that no individual is bigger than the party. “Comrades in the government should discharge day-to-day governance in adherence to the party’s vision,” the document says. However, it must be careful not to create any conflicts between the party and the government. The performance of the government during the first term played a key role in the party’s electoral success. The CPM and the government should have only one agenda: the progress and well-being of Kerala and its people.