The Congress-led UDF and the CPI(M)-headed lDF are in a tough electoral battle for the 20 lok Sabha seats in Kerala and the BJP is engaged in a now-or-never bid to “open account” but crucial issues that have dominated the State’s socio-political realm in the past five years are not figuring as serious points of discussion for the election for which poling will be held on April 10.
The infamous solar scam which broke out during the current UDF rule is considered to be the biggest fraud Kerala has seen in its history. It is considered the biggest scam not because of the size of the amount involved but because of the alleged involvement of money, sex and seats of power including the State’s ultimate administrative authority, the CM’s office.
However, a journey through the constituencies in Kerala reveals that the solar scam is not something the electorate is interested in. Indeed, campaigners of Opposition parties do include the scam in their speeches and loudspeakers cry parodies on the scam and its perpetrator con woman Saritha S Nair but voters argue that the issue has no relevance in this election.
It is not a big election issue even in Alappuzha, where Union Minister KC Venugopal is the Congress candidate despite the fact that he has been accused of having illicit relationship with her and helping her in many ways. Even CPI(M)’s poll managers in Alappuzha say that the issue has failed to click though they have been trying hard to bring it up.
Another issue of similar or more socio-political seriousness is the brutal murder of rebel Marxist leader TP Chandrasekharan of Onchiyam, Kozhikode, committed by a Marxist killer gang allegedly as per a conspiracy hatched by the top CPI(M) leadership. The murder had created massive waves of protest all over Kerala and had caused wide rifts in the CPI(M) itself.
Though the Chandrasekharan murder is a huge point in the Press conferences of leaders, it does not seem to make much impact on the ground. Surprisingly, opinion polls on the lok Sabha election in Kerala have predicted that the CPI(M), which stands accused in the murder case, is set to win the Vadakara seat in which Onchiyam, where the murder took place, falls.
“I attribute the absence of discussion in the election of issues like the solar scam and Chandrasekharan murder to the cynicism and pragmatism to which the people of Kerala have become slaves. One feels that Keralites have reached a point where they would sanctify small scams if they bring personal advantages,” says sociology researcher Somakumar.
“That observation need not be entirely untrue,” says psychologist Aneesh Panicker. “The average Keralites have been following the solar scam out of their thirst for the possible ticklish stories about Saritha and the political bigwigs more than out of their concern over how the State administrators could allow themselves to be used by fraudsters,” he adds.
Poll observers point out that even the unprecedented rise in prices of essential commodities seen in the past three years is not figuring as a huge issue in this election in Kerala. “This is the one issue the Congress may be reluctant to address but even the Marxists are not interested in discussing it,” says the senior editor of a leading pro-Congress Malayalam newspaper.
“The political evolution of Kerala seems to have hit a hard wall with social concerns being replaced by petty selfish interests of the voting individuals. You can see the traces of this general mood in the way they are giving emphasis to local area development schemes which are advantageous to the voters individually. It is a highly cynical development perspective,” he says.