After committing 'original sin', Pinarayi leads resistance against PM-SHRI

In an almost funny change of roles, Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan positioned himself at the head of the resistance against the alleged Sangh Parivar ploy to smuggle in its communal agenda through PM-SHRI, while General Education Minister and Muslim League MLA N Shamsudheen transformed into an apologist for the centrally-sponsored scheme.

The occasion was the adjournment motion moved in the Assembly on Wednesday by CPI MLA P Prasad against the UDF government's decision to implement PM-SHRI (PM Schools for Rising India) in Kerala. 

It was in October 2025 that Pinarayi Vijayan was politically and ideologically cornered by the CPI for ditching the LDF consensus against PM-SHRI and secretly signing an MoU with the Centre. The signing of the MoU was widely seen as a dilution of communist principles and had contributed to the LDF's massive electoral loss.

Then, the Muslim League was one of the most vehement opponents of the scheme. One of its leaders, K M Shaji who is now an UDF minister, said the scheme would be flung into the Arabian Sea once the UDF came to power.

The UDF came to power and have now officially decided to reactivate the PM-SHRI scheme that the previous LDF government had signed very late and then asked the Centre to hold in abeyance. 

"It is a disgrace that a Muslim League leader cannot declare that PM-SHRI will not be implemented in Kerala," said CPI MLA and former agriculture minister P Prasad while moving the adjournment motion. "The RSS has openly claimed that NEP (National Education Policy) 2020 is its idea. Why are you so impatient to implement the RSS agenda?" Prasad said.

"I am surprised you are worried that NEP would be implemented as a result of PM-SHRI," general education minister Shamsudheen said. "Don't forget the fact that your government had already implemented PM-USHA (Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA) to improve the quality, equity, and accessibility of higher education institutions in states), which aligns with the NEP. Even the four-year degree courses are part of the NEP," he said.

On PM-SHRI, the general education minister's counter was that the UDF government had no choice but to go ahead with the implementation of PM-SHRI.

He said the then general education principal secretary Rani George had sent an "assurance letter" to the Centre on March 30, 2024, saying that Kerala was looking forward to establish PM-SHRI schools in Kerala. 

A high-level committee formed to study the issue by the previous government had also recommended that PM-SHRI should be implemented so that Samagra Shiksha Kerala (SSK) funds were not lost to Kerala, and students, particularly from the marginalised communities, were not deprived of the benefits that come from such funds. Shamsudheen said that the committee also recommended that an MoU should be signed with the Centre.

And on October 16, 2025, the MoU was signed. "This way, the LDF government pushed Kerala into a crisis," general education minister Shamsudheen said. "This was done surreptitiously and without taking the Cabinet into confidence. Even Binoy Viswam (CPI state secretary) wondered what kind of a government it was," he said. 

The minister also argued that the Kerala government was legally bound to honour the PM-SHRI MoU and just could not walk away like the LDF seemed to suggest. 

He said that even the letter the LDF government had shot off to the Centre on November 12 did not say that the agreement had been terminated but just that it would be kept in abeyance. "You had also constituted a cabinet sub-committee to study the issue but not once did the committee meet," the minister said.

To further solidify his argument, the minister quoted from the last clause of the MoU. It said that the Union Ministry of Education reserved the right to rescind/terminate/cancel the agreement in public interest and after given a notice of 30 days. "This is what you signed on. You provided them with the knife and also offered the neck," Shamsudheen said.

CPI's Prasad said the government's contention was misleading. He said Article 299 of the Constitution stated that all Centre-State contracts should be executed on behalf the President of India and the Governor. The PM-SHRI agreement, which was signed by bureaucrats, was therefore null and void.

If it were so, Shamsudheen wanted to know why Prasad's party had not moved the court to establish the nullity of the PM-SHRI MoU.

However, it was Pinarayi who put up the most spirited assault on the central scheme that he had once, in highly suspicious circumstances,  agreed to be part of. 

"What we witness now is a most shameful surrender," Pinarayi said. There were loud jeers from the ruling side at this remark. Unmindful, and without a hint that he was aware of the irony involved in this, Pinarayi repeated the "shameless surrender" remark. "You had once said that the MoU would be thrown into the sea. Where has your tongue vanished?" he said.

Pinarayi conveniently ignored the 'original sin', which was the surreptitious signing of the MoU under him. Instead, he concentrated on the second part, which is from the time the LDF government communicated to the Centre to keep the MoU in abeyance. 

"Within 20 days of signing the MoU we wrote to the Centre (on November 12, 2025) to freeze the contract. That was the LDF government's stand. The project did not progress after that," Pinarayi said.

He said that the preliminary steps that were to be taken for the implementation of the project were not taken. Like the formation of state and district-level monitoring committees. Like the drawing up of the list of schools and uploading it on the PM-SHRI portal. "This is a scheme where the state's contribution is 40 per cent. We have not allocated this amount either," Pinarayi said.

He said that even the Centre had acknowledged that Kerala had not implemented the scheme in an affidavit filed before the Supreme Court. 

And then came perhaps the most hypocritical remark from the former Chief Minister. "The main objective of PM-SHRI is infrastructure development in schools. But Kerala schools have already been upgraded to high standards. So what is the urgency for Kerala to spend 40 per cent for a central scheme that is not required for Kerala," Pinarayi said.

And, as a parting shot, asked rhetorically: "Is the period of Kerala's fierce resistance against the RSS coming to an end?"