The left should be right in its programme
After a fiercely fought Assembly election, a new Government of the CPI(M)-led left Democratic Front is set to take charge in Kerala on Wednesday. However, the most important aspect of the election is not the huge victory — 91 seats out of the total 140 — of the lDF which had been in opposition for the past five years or the drubbing suffered by the Congress-led United Democratic Front under whose rule since 2011, the State saw unprecedented corruption and administrative irresponsibility. Such poll results have not been rare in Kerala history: In 2001, the UDF had come to power with 100 seats; five years later, the left had won 98.
The most important outcome is the emergence of the BJP — and the NDA it leads — as a real third alternative by winning a seat for the first time, coming close to victory in some other seats, standing second in seven, increasing votes in almost all constituencies and registering a vote-share growth to 15.01 per cent from a mere 6.06 per cent in 2011. The BJP's victory has presented a new political reality in Kerala: The two main fronts can no more sleep in the comfort of their complacency that the State is their impregnable fortress. It is time for them to wake up to the reality that their hypocritical slogans of secularism and minority security, and the secret understanding they used to enter into at moments of uncertainty, may not help them anymore.
The Congress, busy nursing the electoral wounds, will take time to see the reality but the smarter Marxists, even amidst the victory-induced euphoria, have read the message of history clearly. But being a party that has always depended on violence rather than ideological debates to settle scores with political adversaries, the CPI(M) has reacted to the situation allegedly in an intolerant manner by unleashing terror on BJP activists: One was murdered within hours of the poll results coming out and scores were injured in Marxist attacks. Several houses of RSS-BJP men reportedly came under attack and pro-Sangh parivar families have fled their houses in many places. The BJP-RSS fears that the situation may worsen after a Stalinist like CPI(M) Politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan, with an alleged track-record of leading anti-BJP violence in his home district of Kannur, takes over as the State's Chief Minister on Wednesday.
It is time for the Marxists to see the graffiti of history. They should realise that the overwhelming mandate they have got is not a licence to perpetrate repression on opponents, but it is to take the development of the State and its people's welfare forward by washing away the stains of corruption, irresponsibility and administrative failures that the Congress and the UDF had smeared Kerala with, during its rule. Parties, including the BJP, have already assured cooperation to the left in this mission. Kerala and India hope that the lDF wakes up to the reality that the times have changed, and sticks to a positive agenda.