Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his cabinet colleagues will reach Kasargode on Saturday to kickstart the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s much-talked-about public outreach programme titled Navakerala Sadas.
The LDF’s political odyssey from the halls of power in the government Secretariat to ordinary persons will cover 14 districts and conclude in Thiruvananthapuram in December.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary M. V. Govindan said the exercise would help the government emerge from the fog of misinformation generated by corporate media and opposition parties. It would also help the administration communicate directly and lucidly with the people and hear and redress their grievances.
He said the exercise was at once administrative and profoundly political. The government would spell out the formidable hurdles the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Central government has created to impede Kerala’s progress. Ministers would detail the Centre’s attempts to strangulate the State’s finances and stymie mega infrastructure development.
He said the threat the divisive politics of Sangh Parivar posed to Kerala’s secular and democratic polity would be the central theme of the government’s public outreach. The LDF would stress the need to bolster renaissance values.
The Ministers would project a roadmap to Kerala’s future as a developed knowledge economy that ensures welfare, development and environmental protection.
He termed Navakerala Sadas a “new step” in the history of democracy. He said other States would do well to emulate the State.
Mr. Govindan sought to blunt Opposition criticism, stating that the government would use the luxury bus ferrying the cabinet to public meetings and hearings for tourism purposes later.
Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition has called for a boycott of the programme, accusing the government of scrounging off taxpayers to prosecute a thinly veiled political campaign when the State was in a deep financial crisis.
Mr. Govindan justified the induction of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader P. Abdul Hameed into the Kerala Bank director board.
Mr. Govindan said provincial politics should not impede the State’s effort to protect the cooperative sector from the Central government’s trespasses.
He said the LDF would take everyone on board to strengthen the cooperative sector regardless of political affiliations. Mr. Govindan said the Supreme Court had stalled the Centre’s attempt to legislate on cooperative matters by underscoring that the sector remained on the State list exclusively.
