THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: udgets on the eve of any election usually tend to be highly populist in nature with a slew of doles, mostly unrealistic wishful thinking, yet ambitious enough for an electoral comeback. Presenting the final budget of the second Pinarayi Government just a few months ahead of the election, K N Balagopal, however, stopped short of making his sixth budget fully populist. Neither does he surprisingly transform it into an absolute political document of sorts. The CPM central committee member hasn’t however resisted tinting it with an evident political undertone.
The budget speech, richly sprinkled with political statements and cautionary notes, did not venture into aggressive political posturing, and yet remained deeply-rooted in Leftist norms of welfare politics. Only over the reference of its prematurely aborted semi high-speed rail corridor dream — SilverLine — did the finance minister target the opposition UDF.
Curiously, Balagopal spared the arch-rivals from political attacks to a large extent, and instead trained guns on the emerging BJP-led front, with a few oblique remarks against the extreme right-wing in addition to religious forces. On a political note, cautioning against communal forces making inroads into the state, Balagopal said,
“There are highly venomous communal snakes lurking around to destroy the unity of Kerala. They have tried many times to poison the serenity of life in Kerala. We have so far been able to combat these poisonous elements... but these venomous snakes, spewing religious nationalism, are not the ones who quickly admit defeat and retreat.
They are ever active with new strategies to communally divide, polarise, and subjugate Keralites.” He went on to remind the gathering that the Left has seen it all — right from struggles against imperialism and land reforms to labour agitations, people’s planning, welfare pensions, and poverty eradication, et al.
Despite being a poll-budget, Balagopal chose to focus more on economy than politics. “Usually, election-bound governments go in for a gratification budget. Balagopal however has kept it to a minimum,” a senior planning official said. “Attempts to appease the middle-class, especially the organised sector like government employees with Pay Commission and DA arrears can be seen; but there are no large-scale dole-outs like pension hikes or new schemes.
At the same time, there are imaginative initiatives like insurance for students, free UG education, and support to accident victims. Curiously, even while being highly critical of the Union government, he has pinned his entire hopes on Central grants. It seems electoral gimmicks haven’t been fully avoided,” chuckled the official.
There are indications that the recent local poll setback has played a key role in Balagopal’s please-all-yet-cautious approach.