JUBAIL, 16 December 2006 — The Left Democratic Front (LDF) was not punished at Thiruvampady but the electorate have given a stern warning to them and let them off for the time being. The narrow margin defeat of UDF candidate Ummer Master is also a clear indication that the people are still not in a mood to forgive and forget and to pardon UDF for their five-year misrule.

The political climate, which compelled the voters to replace UDF with LDF in the last general election to the Kerala Legislative Assembly, still prevails; hence the LDF was given a slender margin victory and a reprieve to continue.

But a lot can be read from the fact that a victory margin of over 5,000 votes scored only 6 months ago is pulled down to a mere 247. One doesn’t need political pundits to point out that the support base of LDF is shrinking, not expanding.

Even the most ardent among the supporters of the political left cannot ignore this writing in italic on the political wall of Kerala. Not a pleasant sign for the left cavalry who dreams to turn Kerala into another West Bengal.

LDF captured victory in the last general election to the assembly for a number of reasons. Most prominent among them was the lackluster performance of UDF governments under A.K. Antony and Ommen Chandy coupled with infighting within Congress Party.

Electorate gave a strong warning to the rightwing Congress government during parliamentary polls and again during elections to the local bodies. On both instances Congress was drubbed heavily but they failed to learn the lesson. Electorate took the assembly elections as an opportunity to teach the UDF stalwarts a lesson. Whether they learned the lesson is a different matter altogether.

Unfortunately, the LDF bandwagon too doesn’t seem to understand the electoral arithmetic of negative voting, which concluded to its favor in the last assembly election. The only positive element in the election was V.S. Achuthanandan.

It was something like a miraculous metamorphosis. Until a couple of years back the middle class was unanimous in hating V.S. as a symbol of orthodox Marxism which they interpreted as a mishmash of trade union militancy, sectarianism and anti-development mindset.

All of a sudden the former tentmaker from Aspinval Coir Company of Alappuzha became the new messiah of the lower middle class. Achuthanandan’s campaign as the opposition leader highlighting popular issues and his tirade against all kinds of mafia powers attracted public attention. His down to earth rhetoric and mannerisms suddenly became his assets and gave him an image of an uncompromising leader.

In the backdrop of the infighting within the Congress Party and Karunakaran’s unashamed moves to promote his son and daughter, Achuthanandan’s uncompromising attitude and attack on conventional political power centers became desirable and attractive.

His factional fighting with CPM party secretary Pinaray Vijayan was suddenly interpreted as fight against political mafia. Right wing newspapers in their overenthusiasm to attack CPM party apparatus found it convenient to portray V.S. to be an underdog and a martyr.

It is interesting to note here that Kerala’s mass media is still a domain controlled by the rightwing socio-political interests.

Being aware about the political clout of Pinaray Vijayan camp within CPM they were sure about Achuthanandan’s decline and eventual fall to oblivion hence they trumpeted Achuthanandan in the anticipation that his rejection by the party could be a valuable tool against CPM at the time of election.

Unfortunately the script didn’t work out to their plan. The CPM high command in Delhi gauged the people’s mood correctly and decided to field V.S. in the election, projecting him as their leader and potential chief minister. The media never had time to eat their own words and to direct the firepower against V.S. Before that could happen, the election was over and V.S. occupied the CM’s chair. The public wanted V.S. to perform and deliver.

Achuthanandan was never given the customary honeymoon in his new chair. He was even denied the pleasure of selecting a Cabinet of his choice; hence his Cabinet has become a Tower of Babel speaking in multiple tongues.

Like many ordinary Keralites, voters at Thiruvampady too were concerned about the geriatric character of a young government, which came to existence hardly six months ago with an aura of promises.

A hastily prepared education law intended to weed out corruption and capitation fees from the self-financed professional colleges and to regulate the admission through a common entrance examination was put on hold by the high court and supreme court disrupting academic atmosphere and unduly delaying the admission procedures arousing anger of both parents and students.

Usually diplomatic M.A. Baby, the education minister was tactless in handling the friction and dialogue with the management of the self-financed educational institutions, which were largely under Christian and Muslim community.

Certain clauses in the new education law, which practically denied minority status to educational institutions run by religious minorities, created the general impression that LDF is trying to appease the communal elements within the majority community with an aim to expand its support base.

V.S. who always stood on a moral high ground with the sex scandals failed to act decisively on P.J. Joseph issue and the Kottayam sex scandal, where the victim committed suicide as the police failed to book the culprits.

Two ministers from the communist block — Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and Divakaran were found spending public money recklessly to turn their government-allotted residences into palatial bungalows.

The Health Ministry failed to act cohesively and effectively to contain the deadly chicken guinea epidemic in Alappuzha.

All these negative factors reflected in the stern warning given by the Thiruvampady voters to V.S. government. Rishiraj Singh issue also added to the woes of Achuthanandan.

His direct order to the DGP to reinstate Rishiraj Singh was ignored and kept in abeyance for two days with the connivance of the home minister who quietly hid behind the veil of administrative decorum.

Achuthanandan’s commendable transparency and the public outcry saved the day for the chief minister when Rishiraj Singh was reinstated on the third day. True, the fiasco has increased the public standing of V.S. but unfortunately at the expense of his party’s public image. Tragically the Pinaray — V.S. tussle seems to be destined to equal or surpass Karunakaran-Antony predicting a change of government at the next general election.

This default guarantee of elevation to power after every five years work against the very interests of good governance in the state prompts both LDF and UDF to continue gleefully with mediocre administration and dubious theatrics with scant respect for people’s will and the state’s development.