In August 2020, Veena George, the current Kerala Health Minister, delivered a speech in the Assembly, praising Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Amid the global pandemic, she expressed confidence that Kerala would weather the storm under Pinarayi’s leadership, comparing him to a captain guiding the state to a new shore where the poor and downtrodden would find shelter, and democracy and secularism would thrive.
Her depiction of Pinarayi as a captain went viral. A month before the polls, when asked by the media if he was aware of being called "Captain," Pinarayi responded that if people wanted to call him that, there was nothing he could do about it and no need to create confusion over it.
Interestingly, the "Captain" image significantly contributed to his re-election in the Assembly elections, marking the first time the Left secured consecutive terms in Kerala’s political history.
Unstoppable, Unquestionable
Eventually, Pinarayi became unstoppable and unquestionable. Left party members and sympathisers became fervent defenders of any government wrongdoing, and Pinarayi was deemed unassailable. His official residence was continuously being renovated, with money repeatedly spent on a swimming pool, built by late former Indian National Congress Chief Minister K Karunakaran in 1992.
The then Communist-led Opposition leader EK Nayanar had said that he would take his dog for a bath in that pool if he came to power. Interestingly, Pinarayi, who is from the same Communist party as the late Nayanar, is renovating the pool using taxpayers' money. Even a cowshed was built at the cost of lakhs within the premises.
His security was beefed up, and new luxurious cars were purchased for his entourage. All of this had drawn criticism from the public. Unfortunately, when the media and Opposition pointed out these extravagances and other governance failures, Pinarayi recalled his past heroic acts and reiterated that he couldn't be shaken.
But when bribery allegations were raised against his daughter Veena Vijayan, he lost his composure. The allegation is that his daughter’s company accepted kickbacks from a company mining rare earth minerals in Kerala. In response, he recalled previous allegations and said this one would also fade away. However, the current status of the alleged bribery case is that the court has sent notices to him and his daughter.
PR Campaigns
Meanwhile, unsolicited PR campaigns for Pinarayi continued unabated. Some ardent supporters even released video songs with electrifying action sequences reminiscent of those made for Joseph Stalin in the USSR in 1935. Interestingly, the lyrics of the song for Pinarayi bore many similarities to the Song of Stalin. In the song, Pinarayi was called an Eagle and a Burning Sun, similar to the praises written and sung for Stalin.
Gradually, Pinarayi was turning into a formidable leader. In one incident, when a microphone howled for about seven seconds during one of his speeches, a case was registered against the proprietor who supplied the sound equipment. When an anchor praised his speech, Pinarayi turned back and said, "You don't have to pass such comments."
During this period, social security pensions were delayed, scholarships for SC/ST students went unpaid, and state-run fair-price shops lacked essential items. Despite these pressing issues, Pinarayi embarked on a New Kerala state tour in a luxurious bus. Along the route, hundreds of people were placed in preventive custody.
Black flags were banned, and individuals wearing black shirts and masks were also taken into custody. When protesters staged strikes against his extravagance, they were brutally attacked by Left party workers, his gunmen, and the state police. Pinarayi, without any remorse, referred to these brutal attacks as rescue operations.
Then came the elections. In the lead-up to the polls, the Left Front, led by Pinarayi, tried to garner votes from the Muslim community by showing solidarity. They held meetings and declared that the state would not implement the Citizenship Amendment Act. The Left took on the role of the protector of Muslims. Additionally, their poll campaign tagline was "There Will Be India, Only If the Left is There."
Horror Show in the 2024 Elections
Interestingly, while Indian National Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was touring India and meeting with Samajwadi Party boss Akhilesh Yadav and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo MK Stalin to strategise against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance for the 2024 elections, Pinarayi and his family went on a tour to Indonesia, Singapore, and Dubai, his favourite spot.
While many criticised his untimely tour, some said it was good that he left the poll scene, as he had been attacking Rahul despite the CPI(M) being an ally of the INDIA bloc during the campaign.
As expected, in the elections, the Captain-led front faced a significant defeat, winning only one out of 20 seats in Kerala. The Left Front, which secured 99 seats in the 2021 assembly elections, had to settle for leading in only 18 assembly segments.
With the panchayat and assembly elections around the corner, such a shameful defeat has put the Left Front on edge.
This defeat has cracked Pinarayi's previously unassailable image. Members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) at both the state and district levels have started to criticise his leadership. Sitaram Yechury, the CPI(M) General Secretary, mentioned in a media interaction in New Delhi that Pinarayi's governance would be reviewed, along with other factors contributing to the general election failure.
Kerala Sinking
Now, let’s examine the financial health of the state during Pinarayi’s tenure.
Scholarships for SC/ST students, funds for mid-day meals, and housing projects for the poor have been halted or delayed. Recently, for the first time in Kerala’s history, the payment of salaries to government employees was delayed. Additionally, social security pensions for the elderly have also faced delays.
While the state blames the central government's discriminatory attitude towards Kerala, economists within the state argue that it's due to the lack of due diligence and mismanagement by the government that has led to this crisis.
According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the total debt of Kerala till 2024 is Rs 4,29,270.6 crore. In 2016, Kerala's debt stood at Rs 1,62,271.5 crore, which increased by 18 per cent and reached Rs 1,91,622.9 crore in 2017. The debt rose to Rs 2,16,499.4 crores in 2018, Rs 2,67,585.4 crores in 2020, and Rs 3,10,856.2 crores in 2021.
Kerala is reported to have the poorest fiscal management in India. Government expenditure has seen a significant rise, with 78 percent of its revenue income being spent in the fiscal year 2018-19. The fiscal deficit has also escalated from 2.4 per cent in 2017-18 to 3.1 per cent in 2021-2022. In short, financially, Kerala is not doing well at all.
Now, the Left has entered introspection mode, but one thing is certain: the Captain has failed, and Kerala is sinking.
(Rejimon Kuttappan is an independent journalist, labour migration specialist and author of Undocumented [Penguin 2021]. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)