Even as the Election Commission of India is getting ready to announce the schedule of the Assembly election to five States, the Government of Kerala is on a media blitzkrieg spree. All newspapers and satellite TV channels carry multi-page advertisements titled “My Kerala My Pride” enlisting various achievements claimed to have been made by the CPI(M)-led Government of Kerala, the tenure of which would come to an end in mid-May. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has been considerate in releasing the advertisements, running to hundreds of crore rupees, to all newspapers ranging from the BJP-owned Janmabhumi to the Islamic fundamentalists managed Madhyamam.
Most pages in these dailies carry the publicity materials prepared by commissioned professional advertising agencies and released through the Department of Public Relations, Government of Kerala. “At no point of time in the past I have come across such a media blitz. This is mind boggling,” said Suresh Gopinath, a reputed auditor based in Ernakulam who is also a CPI(M) fellow traveller.
But what makes the publicity controversial, are the claims made by the Government of Kerala and the news reports which appear in the vernacular media. The news appearing in these dailies openly contradict what is listed as the achievements by the State administration.
“Kerala, Numero Uno in the Health Sector”, claims the advertisement. But the front pages of all newspapers, except Deshabhimani, the mouthpiece of the CPI(M), are reports about the daily figures of Covid-19 patients which have caused national concern. J P Nadda, BJP chief, who was the union health minister during 2014-19 says that more than half of the Covid-19 patients in the country are from Kerala. Pinarayi Vijayan, chief minister, had claimed on May 8, 2020 that Kerala was a Covid-19 free state and the national media sang paeans to the Chief Minister and Health Minister K K Shyalaja. The latter figured in the cover of a renowned fashion magazine. All such claims and myths have been burst by the Government itself with the health minister cautioning about another series of stringent measures.
Though the Government claims that there has been a major leap in the industrial sector, the State has become an industrial graveyard, says M S Giri, an entrepreneur based in Thiruvananthapuram. Giri, who had lot of expectations when the present government assumed office in 2016 is a dejected person. “All claims about the swift single window system and speedy clearance are hollows. Ours is the only State that has seen entrepreneurs committing suicide because of continued tormenting by party chieftains,” said Giri.
While Giri was speaking to this newspaper, a large posse of rank-holders in the examination held by the Public Service Commission were seen marching to the Secretariat demanding jobs for which they have the rights. “The Government had cancelled recently the rank list prepared by the PSC and this literally shattered the dreams of thousands of youth across the State,” said Jaison Mazhuvancherry, a BJP leader in Ernakulam.
The Government claims in the advertisement that more than 1.55 lakh youth selected by the PSC have been appointed till December 2020. But the LDF had promised one million jobs in the five year period of 2016 to 2021. “The agitation by youths demanding jobs have been a regular feature in the State during the last five years while thousands of relatives of the CPI(M) leaders were illegally appointed to various institutions,” said K C Joseph, MLA and former minister.
The multi-coloured advertisements and the well-crafted claims by the Government stands in contrast to ‘Twenty 20’ a political outfit launched by Sabu M Jacob, a Kerala industrialist, who was disgusted and disappointed by the gravity of corruption that has engulfed the State.