THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Scripting history with its resounding victory, the Left in Kerala seems to be now treading the path of erasing history too. The Pinarayi government in Kerala is all set to celebrate the silver jubilee of 'People's Planning', the path-breaking socio-political movement that had brought in a paradigm shift in state's developmental perspective and process. Just one minor glitch though - Thomas Isaac, the prime architect and key propagator of this revolutionary movement, has been sidelined as a back bencher.
LSG minister MV Govindan will preside over the event that will be inaugurated by CM Pinarayi Vijayan at 4.30pm on Tuesday at Gorky Bhavan. Speaker MB Rajesh, former CM Oommen Chandy, Transport Minister Antony Raju, opposition leader VD Satheesan and planning board vice chairman VK Ramachandran will share the dais along with former LSG minister Paloli Mohammedkutty who was in charge of the portfolio when the movement was launched.
Isaac is among the invitees to the limited audience event and his name figures as the 31st felicitation speaker among the 35 speakers, in his capacity as former planning board member.
People's Planning, a social experiment launched by the Left government in August 1996 to decentralise powers to local bodies for effective plan implementation was a much-debated mass movement. Ignited by Left ideologue EMS Namboodiripad, it was a team led by Thomas Isaac, then Planning Board member and EM Sreedharan along with others, who led the movement. Leaders of CMP and Kerala Congress (Scaria) which are not even represented in assembly will speak before Isaac.
Back in 1996, decentralisation and people's planning were viewed skeptically, as thousands of panchayats had to come up with plans. It was a humongous task, wherein Isaac along with a team had to bring together thousands of documents and plans, working with whatever was available. In fact the movement went on to become such a major success that even senior Congress leaders like Manishankar and AK Antony were all praise for Isaac at a later date.
On August 17, the Pinarayi government will celebrate 25 years of the movement, with a slew of political personalities in attendance, including chief minister, ministers, former chief ministers, former LSGD ministers, representatives of all political parties, bureaucrats along with each and everyone who had contributed or was part of the movement in the last 25 years. Ironically Isaac, who could well be termed one of the few living authors of the movement, seems to have been deliberately given the cold shoulder.
"It's unimaginable - the level of pettiness being played out by the political leadership in the state. Obviously, it's an attempt to eradicate a few select names associated with the history of decentralisation and people's planning. Those inaugurating the programme and attending the same, have actually played no role in it at all," said sources.
In fact, majority of available literature on Kerala's People's Planning belong to Isaac. 'Local Democracy and Development: The Kerala People's Campaign for Decentralized Planning', a best seller co-authored with Richard W Franke has been translated into many languages and has had multiple editions till date. In addition, he has brought in a series of works on its concept and implementation, the people behind it, its process and other aspects. Most concept papers and literature on decentralisation belong to Isaac.
Negating the role of Isaac in people's planning, obviously reeks of politicking. It is evidently an attempt to eradicate the role played by Isaac, who has never figured in the good books of Pinarayi. This may well be just another instance of Pinarayi flexing his autocratic clout to reinforce just who pulls the strings of the Leftist puppetry show being played out in the corridors of power, with none to oppose.
Noticeably, Isaac, a former finance minister, was denied in seat in the last assembly polls. Despite repeated attempts, Thomas Isaac was unavailable for comments