Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping once famously said: “It doesn’t matter whether a cat is black or white, as long as it catches mice.” His words have often been used to explain the communist nation’s capitalist economic reforms. If its new policy document is anything to go by, Kerala’s CPI(M), which has always looked up to the Chinese Communist Party for inspiration, seems to have taken a leaf out of Deng’s book. Almost three decades after its loud public opposition to liberalisation and privatisation, the party’s recently-concluded state conference in Kollam signalled a paradigm shift in the CPI(M)’s approach towards capital and investment.
From energising a resource mobilisation drive, allowing private participation in the public sector, and increasing fees and surcharges based on income, the ‘New Paths to Lead New Kerala’ document presented by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan proposes a slew of measures to attract investments. The vision document calls for significant private investments to tackle the state’s financial challenges head-on. It unequivocally advocates for private sector participation in sectors such as higher education, industry and tourism to boost the economy.
The CPI(M) changing its long-held stance to face the current challenges is indeed welcome. But the radical shift, which may seem pragmatic to the majority, has not gone down well with some of its allies including the CPI, which claims to be positioned farther left than its big brother. They have already labelled the proposal to run public sector units in public-private partnerships a “dangerous trend” and a “problematic approach”. On his part, the chief minister has assured that the government would not accept investments with conditions that are harmful to the state’s interests. The new policy is carved from the neoliberal economic framework, but it’s upholstered with a soft socialist cushion. It’s also true that the party has been singing these hymns in a hushed tone for a while. It has now shown the courage to loudly pronounce it. The CPI(M) in Kerala seems to have learnt lessons from the party’s decimation in West Bengal and Tripura. It’s good whenever a party takes lessons from history and focuses on the greater good.
The 24th CPM state conference will go down in the history of the state for being a party meeting where the CPM made a paradigm shift in its approach towards private capital. If the 23rd conference in Kochi had introduced the capitalistic shift, the Kollam conference approved private capital in all sectors, including in public sector units.
The state conference witnessed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan pitching for Novel Ways for a new Kerala, with an array of resource mobilisation moves to overcome the state’s financial restraints, at a time when the Union Government has been restraining the state on the financial front.
On the organisational front, there were no major surprises in store, as incumbent state secretary MV Govindan continues as the party chief. It’s his first time being elected through a party conference, as Govindan had taken over in August 2022 when Kodiyeri Balakrishnan stepped down due to ill health. It’s going to be a challenging second term for the 71-year-old leader with two back-to-back elections approaching. The ideological face of the party, Govindan is known for his firm handling of inner-party affairs.
The relatively uneventful meet, which saw the delegates unitedly showering praises on Pinarayi, once again underscores the Kannur strongman as the party’s sole leader – both at the state and national levels. The conference not only reiterated his supremacy in the party but reconfirmed that in all likelihood, he would be leading the party in the next assembly poll too. MV Govindan made it clear that a third term for the LDF is the prime goal before the party.
Rumblings within the CPM in its stronghold of Kannur are coming to the fore as the party’s 24th state conference concluded with senior leader P Jayarajan being excluded from the state secretariat. N Sukanya missing out on a spot in the state committee too has become a major talking point. Adding to the tension is the inclusion of M V Jayarajan, considered relatively junior to P Jayarajan, in the state secretariat.
Amid factionalism and the perceived efforts to sideline P Jayarajan who was once as popular as Pinarayi Vijayan in the district, the debate is set to intensify in the coming days. Jayarajan’s son, Jain Raj, and Sukanya have already hinted at their displeasure through cryptic social media posts. Jain shared a screenshot of a past social media post by CPM state secretariat member M Swaraj.
The post, originally made during the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute verdict, read: “Did you innocent people expect a different verdict in this modern-day India?” Jain set this as his WhatsApp status when the new secretariat list was announced.
Though P Sasi and P Jayarajan were under active consideration, it’s expected that some of the controversies surrounding these leaders prompted the leadership to keep them away. Instead, the party chose to go by CM’s confidante MV Jayarajan, a leader with a clean image. With P Jayarajan not being considered this time too, it could well be the end of the road for the veteran leader.
Congress MP from Kerala, Shashi Tharoor, shared a selfie with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday, days after his praise for the Left government stirred discontent within the Congress, prompting intervention from party leadership.
Sharing a picture taken during a dinner hosted by the Kerala governor, Tharoor wrote, “This unusual gesture augurs well for our combined efforts to develop the state, beyond our political differences”.
Tharoor, the MP from Thiruvananthapuram, posted three images on X, two selfies, one with Vijayan and another with Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar, taken during a dinner discussion hosted by the Governor in Delhi. The dinner, held at Kerala House, brought together MPs from the state to discuss key issues facing Kerala.
The timing of Tharoor’s post is significant, given that his recent newspaper article lauding the LDF government’s handling of Kerala’s economy had already put him at odds with his party colleagues, while the CPI(M) welcomed it.
