KOCHI: The Opposition UDF which has been hunting down the ruling LDF with allegations ranging from ill-treatment of devotees during Sabarimala agitation to the continuing foul play in deep-sea fishing is silent on several other issues which could have given a shot in the arm this election season. The state police’s failure which had dominated news space on several occasions is not being highlighted by UDF leaders during their campaign and there is no mention of the self-financing medical education sector which is in disarray.
If the death of an engineering student in police custody during Emergency was powerful enough to end K Karunakaran’s first innings as chief minister within months of taking the oath of office in 1977, the death of eight Maoists in encounters during the last five years hasn’t turned out to be a headache for Pinarayi Vijayan during the campaign. Repeated killings of Maoists had created a chasm within the LDF with CPI opposing the action in public.
With the then chief secretary Tom Jose defending the police action, the encounter killing theory had gained further credence. BJP leaders were up in arms to defend the LDF government when Maoist killings took place prompting human rights activists to allege that the government was implementing Sangh Parivar agenda.
In the last five years, there were at least 23 deaths either in police custody or by suicide within days of release from police custody, but that too failed to impress Congress and BJP leaders. The legal battle undertaken by the LDF government up to the Supreme Court for helping the murderers of Youth Congress leaders Kripesh and Sarath Lal is a burning campaign issue in Kasaragod, but there is hardly any mention about it in central and south Kerala.
The arrest of students Alan Suhaib and Thwaha Fasal from Pantheerankavu in Kozhikode and subsequent slapping of UAPA on them by Kerala police alleging that they are Maoist cadre was another event that triggered a public outrage against the police and the CM.
The CPM, which had a well-defined policy against UAPA, tried to defend the police by bringing in theories such as Maoist-Islamist understanding instead of trying to correct the government. While SFI workers Alan and Thwaha were dealt with sternly by the police, BJP local leader Eswary Rajesh of Kodungallur who was held in the fake note printing case three times was not slapped with UAPA. The Pallikkathodu gun factory raid and case also didn’t attract UAPA though the kingpin was a BJP local leader.
The Police Act amendment which was later withdrawn is another point that missed poll-time debate. Though the new ordinance was barbarian and even questioned the fundamental rights promised by the Constitution, the Opposition seems to have forgotten the episode. Though all these incidents had pointed fingers of suspicion at DGP Loknath Behera and police adviser Raman Srivastava who was removed from the post recently, the CPM and Pinarayi defended them to the hilt.
The unconditional support the state government and Finance Minister Thomas Isaac had given to GST when the new tax regime was unveiled is another topic which the Opposition failed to highlight. Isaac’s public statement that GST is good for a consumer state like Kerala was against the stated position of CPM. The party central committee had observed that GST would weaken the federal structure of India and even lead to a situation in which states would have to queue up before the Centre with their begging bowls. Over the years, the concerns expressed by the CPM proved correct while Isaac’s optimism died with the state failing to meet its target in GST collection in the last three fiscal years. During the campaign, none of the senior leaders from Opposition demanded an explanation from the CM or FM on this fiasco.
The LDF government’s decision to implement economic reservation in appointments and admission was another foul step called out by Dalit and progressive organisations. In fact, even before the Centre enacting the Act for providing reservation to economically weaker sections, the state introduced EWS reservation in devaswom boards. The decision was only with an eye on votes as the existing combination of devaswom boards was such that 95% of employees have been from forward castes. The CPM leadership defended economic reservation by highlighting the stand of party’s central leadership. In the early 1990s itself, the CPM had accepted a line favouring economic reservation that would be in addition to existing caste-based reservation.
There were major flaws in higher education sector including the enactment of a special Act to favour two self-financing medical college managements. The Act, piloted by Health Minister K K Shailaja, was struck down by the Supreme Court causing misery to hundreds of medical students who had joined these colleges. The government failed to put in place a proper system to fix a reasonable fee for self-financing medical colleges. Even this year, there has been no clarity on the fees and managements have approached the court to increase the fees specified by the regulator.