Kodiyeri Balakrishnan with MM Hassan. Photo: ManoramaWhen the Left Democratic Front government completes a year, the people have realized how empty the promises were. Nothing has been set in order in the last year. The past year has been a year of lapses. It was a march of failures and controversies. They could not keep the promises given to the people. The constituent parties of the ruling front are dissatisfied. Even the party workers are dissatisfied. The people are angry.
Price rise
When the people evaluate a government, the first thing they look in it is how far the regime has made their lives easier.
Prices have increased in a year. Milk is costlier, bus charge has been increased, water charges have been increased, electricity charges have been increased.
Fees of the self-financing colleges have been increased. All these have affected the people. When prices increase in the first year, it means that the government had not done anything for the people.
This government has discontinued the welfare measures announced by the United Democratic Front government. Price increases made life more miserable. Price of rice has risen up to 10 times.
Ration distribution has ground to a halt. All this points to a breakdown in administration.
Law and order situation
Law and order was the most affected. Twenty-one politically motivated murders happened in a year. Every day is marked with violence.
Every government will have to deal with violence but such an increase in cases is unprecedented. As many as 17,50,687 crime cases, 3,200 cases of harassment of women, 4,499 narcotic cases, 1,859 dalit harassment cases.
Such data is cited during any government’s term but now the home minister’s party workers are on either side of all these cases. The chief minister is duty bound to ensure peace to the people but his party workers are either the perpetrators or victims of violence, a fact that points to the political violence that prevails in the state.
The chief minister had stressed on a few things when he was sworn in. He said that he stood for secularism and corruption-free governance. CPM claims that it resists communal forces but at the same time pursues a soft-Hindutva agenda. They attack the BJP to claim that only they can protect the minorities. At the same time, it is trying to get the votes from the majority community. We have seen this strategy during the Malappuram byelection.
Corruption
Secularism is just a ploy for the CPM to gain power. The party claimed it would present a corruption-free government but a minister had to resign within 10 months for appointing a relative a government post.
The UDF did not have to face such a situation. The LDF had branded K.M. Mani and R Balakrishna Pillai as corrupt. What message do they send out when they embrace them both. They were corrupt when they were in the UDF. Now they are saints!
Women's safety
They said that they will ensure women’s safety. But atrocities against women are increasing. The chief minister weakened the probe into the attack against an actress. He influenced the course of investigation by saying that there was no conspiracy behind the attack. Walayar, Wadakkanchery and Kottiyoor molestation cases followed. CPM workers were accused of harassing women.
Jishnu Pranoy’s mother is from a Marxist family. Yet she was tortured by the police. The chief minister never uttered a word against the police. He justified them.
SFI workers attacked girls in the University College in Thiruvananthapuram in an apparent act of moral policing. They presented a coffin for the principal at the Victoria College at Palakkad and burnt the chair of the principal at the Maharaja's College in Ernakulam. The LDF government has disturbed the peaceful atmosphere of Kerala.
Coalition rift
The chief minister is behaving like “Modi in mundu” and he acts like a dictator. This was not an allegation by the opposition. It was said by CPI, CPM’s ally. This will tell us of the collective responsibility of the cabinet. How can a disunited coalition and the government it leads give results?
Development
Has this government been able to start any development activity since it came to power? The finance minister is talking about the KIIFB (Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board). It is a pipe dream. He says the board will bring in investment of crores of rupees. Not a single paise has been raised. There was a VACB raid in KIIFB. How credible can this body be?
The chief minister is drunk on power. That is why he is acting like a dictator. The problems inside the coalition is a result of that behavior. That caused the embarrassment in the Senkumar issue. The government is not working democratically. The chief minister is not only listening to criticism from his own party. How can he be expected to listen to the opposition?
The past year has been filled with failures. The achievements listed out are nothing but inflated claims.
