Not many government programs have been proven so counter-productive. Nava Kerala Sadas (NKS) was launched to celebrate the LDF government’s second anniversary, highlight its achievements, and expose the central government’s discrimination. NKS was intended to counter the growing mood of anti-incumbency as seen in the media on account of the spate of scams that have embroiled the government and re-establish its legitimacy. But the results have proved just the opposite. Seldom has a government appeared more intolerant, undemocratic, and vindictive to its opponents when the NKS comes to a grinding halt after 36 eventful days.

As an idea, NKS was quite admirable. The entire cabinet led by the Chief Minister, getting out of the rarefied zone of power in the state’s secretariat and traveling together continuously for more than a month across the state to meet and talk to people hasn’t happened before anywhere. Even though the exercise was more symbolic than substantive, it indeed was in line with the tradition of decentralisation of power in which the Kerala Left has much to claim. NKS’s second achievement was in the people’s participation. Those who assess NKS based only on what they read or saw about it in the media may equate it to the slew of ugly clashes and controversies that accompanied it along the way. The mass attendance was impressive, notwithstanding the party’s or government's machinery that may have made it possible. (However, it was cringy to hear ministers themselves claiming how immensely fortunate people were to get an opportunity to meet them all together.)

Sadly, the positives end there. One indeed should appreciate Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s........

© Mathrubhumi English