Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan
By Shankar Raj*
Thiruvananthapuram: After facing a humiliating defeat in the Lok Sabha elections in Kerala where the Left Democratic Front (LDF) managed to bag just one seat out of the 20 that went to polls, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan avoided the media and instead issued a press statement admitting that the LDF could not register the win it expected. He assured the public that corrective measures would be taken to implement the policies of his government more effectively.
He also said the results have dealt a big blow to the attempts of the Bharatiya Janata Party to scuttle democracy and constitutional values.
People have rejected the propaganda unleashed by the majority of the media, the ruling dispensation and central agencies backed by money power. This was quite evident in the results as the BJP was unable to gain a simple majority, he said.
The people of India have trashed the BJP’s pipe dream that it could continue in power by dividing society along communal and sectarian lines, he added.
Pinarayi said the LDF will rectify its drawbacks and to effectively resist the false propaganda against the state government and also dispel the misunderstanding that such propaganda may have created in the minds of the people in the state.
He admitted that the Left viewed the victory of the BJP in Thrissur ‘seriously’. A win for the saffron party in a state that is hailed as the epitome of secularism needed to be critically examined, he said and added that the LDF would continue to strive towards upholding secular values.
Also read: Verdict 2024: The new Kerala story
The Congress Party flayed the Chief Minister for having no guts to admit that the LDF defeat was due to his arrogant style of functioning and his inability to come clean in a series of financial scams involving his daughter Veena Vijayan. He should have taken the blow on his chin instead of ducking and trying to analyse what is happening in Delhi, the Congress said.
The Left’s disastrous showing at the 2024 Lok Sabha polls is majorly attributed to very strong undercurrents of the anti-Pinarayi factor that played a crucial role in the United Democratic Front’s thumping victory.
It was this strong anti-Pinarayi sentiment among the majority of voters that played a significant role in handing victory to the UDF on a platter, as well as aiding the Lotus to finally bloom in the state
Many believe that Pinarayi should have simply tried to come clean on allegations against his daughter. “Never before has a CPM [Communist Party of India – Marxist] chief minister’s family come under a shadow of corruption charges like this. Unless the party and the government go into introspection mode, the sole Left bastion in the country will sooner or later be lost,” a political commentator was quoted in the media.
However, the CPM politburo that is likely to meet this week is unlikely to put any blame on its ‘tallest’ leader and would shield him against any form of criticism.
*Shankar Raj is a former editor of The New Indian Express, Karnataka and Kerala, and writes regularly on current affairs.
