Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's 'Pathways to Nava Kerala', a document that wants to persuade the CPM to embrace policies it has till now considered dreadfully neoliberal, was taken up for discussion at the CPM State Conference on Saturday, March 8.

As many as 27 delegates participated in the marathon seven-hour discussion. CPM state secretary M V Govindan said that there was overwhelming support for the recommendations made in the CM's Nava Kerala document. "In fact, comrades came up with many new suggestions to mop up additional resources," Govindan said. Finding new revenue sources, especially through the imposition of cesses and fees in areas that traditionally have been beyond the scope of monetisation, is one of the urgent tasks outlined in the document. Encouragement of private capital, making Kerala investment-friendly like never before, is another major agenda.

A delegate who took part in the discussion told Onmanorama that many comrades expressed concerns about the "fate of the class politics" the CPM is traditionally identified with. "When there is too much emphasis on increasing fees and luring investment, what will happen to the aspirations of the working class, the lower middle class? Will they be just brushed aside?" the delegate said, claiming that he had raised the sentiment during the discussion.

The Nava Kerala document says that the interests of the poor will be protected. A women delegate reportedly said that the assurance was too vague. She wanted finer details. "She wanted to know how the income slabs would be fixed, who will be charged and not. She asked whether the ration card, its pink yellow and white cards, would function as a useful tool for income differentiation," a delegate said. Her concern, like many others, have been noted down as suggestions.

Govindan confirmed that innumerable suggestions were made by the participants. "They wanted guarantees for the underprivileged. It was only natural that they did not want the poor to be left behind," Govindan said. He wanted to dispel the notion that the new charges would suddenly kick in. "The document is just a vision statement. How to go about finding revenues will be decided after detailed discussions with the people. The only thing certain is that we want money, but how to find it has not yet been finalised. No arbitrary decisions will be taken."

Like in the case of cesses, rolling out the red carpet for private investment was also viewed with suspicion by delegates. The Nava Kerala document declares that investment without any strings attached should be welcomed. "Many delegates, including myself, wanted to know what are these strings that the document was referring to. Does it mean capital that would damage the environment or that would necessitate huge land acquisition? Has the government announced any such preconditions before hosting the Invest Kerala Summit? There is no clarity on this," the leader said. When asked whether Adani's promise to invest Rs 20,000 crore in Kerala in the next five years came up during the discussion, the delegate asked why. He was reminded that the Draft Political Resolution of the CPM blamed Adani for the growing concentration of wealth in the country. "I don't recall any mention of Adani," the delegate said.

When he met reporters on March 8, the penultimate day of the CPM State Conference, Govindan seemed to grapple with the irony of the Nava Kerala document's espousal of the PPP (public-private participation) mode for PSUs. One of the CPM's USP all this while was its vehement objection to the disinvestment of PSUs. For instance, when the centre was about to sell off Hindustan Newsprint Limited, the LDF Government had stepped in and, quite heroically, retained it in the public sector. Now, it is Kerala Paper Products Limited (KPPL). The Nava Kerala document is now open to PPP in PSUs.

"PPP is just one of the ways to revive an ailing PSU," he said. Govindan said that many delegates had listed PSUs that were dysfunctional in their districts and spoke of the need to rescusitate them. "The lands in possession of these (defunct) PSUs could also be used for productive purposes," Govindan said.

Some delegates also asked how the adoption of neoliberal tools like cesses and surcharges could be sold to the public as a Left alternative. "A delegate pointed out that the state government had always criticised the cesses and surcharges imposed by the Centre, but it has now proposed the same stifling and unfair levies to pull Kerala out of its fiscal crisis," the source said. "A couple of senior leaders, including a minister, pointed out that the state's problem with cesses and surcharges was not that they were problematic but that they were not shared with states. It was also pointed out that these cesses and surcharges were legal, sanctioned by the Constitution," the delegate said.

Some members said that Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) was truly a Left alternative as it spend public money on the creation of public assets like schools, colleges and hospitals. "These delegates themselves said that there was no point speaking about KIIFB as the Centre, fearing the success of a Left alternative, has already sabotaged it," the CPM source said.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will respond to the delegates on Sunday, March 9, the final day of the four-day conference.