The CPI(M) Govt speaks in two voices: Seeking investments but striking work

Kerala has done it yet again! While the rest of the country largely ignored the 48-hour pan-India general strike called by the Left-affiliated trade unions against the “anti-people policies” of the Narendra Modi Government at the Centre, the State ruled by the CPI(M)-led LDF Government was totally shut down for two full days. Bandhs and hartals are nothing new to Kerala. The CPI(M) calls for bandhs at the drop of a hat and, without stretching the argument, there is a general strike once every month on an average. The seriousness of general strikes has been lost long back as common citizens have started asking the organisers of these shutdowns to call for ‘people-friendly’ bandhs. If a bandh is held either on Monday or Friday, people would get an extended weekend to ‘enjoy’ the occasion with a social gathering! One of the reasons cited by big-time investors for keeping away from Kerala is the frequent general strikes ordered by the Left parties in the State. Though nature has bestowed Kerala with water and clean environment, industrialists are wary of setting up units here because of militant trade unions and their propensity to disrupt work.

The high-handed behaviour of the head-load workers is forcing entrepreneurs to shut down businesses and leave for other States. Though the Kerala High Court on Monday questioned the constitutional validity of Government officials joining the general strike and ordered the administration to declare dies non (no work, no pay), the party bosses came out into the open by Tuesday warning the judiciary not to step into political domain. MV Jayarajan, a prominent CPI(M) leader, had to serve a month-long jail sentence for describing the judges as “idiots who live in glasshouses” following a court verdict that general strikes were against humanity. The party commissars claim that the general strike was called against privatisation and disinvestment being carried out by the Centre. But this is nothing new as the process was set into motion in 1991 when PV Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister. Interestingly, the CPI(M)’s recent State conference at Kochi adopted a unanimous resolution that private investment was the only option for the State’s economic development. It also wanted to improve the ease of doing business and welcome foreign and private universities to set up centres of excellence in the State. Will the real CPI(M) please stand up?