While the rest of India voted against Hindutva fascism, surprisingly, Kerala sent one BJP member to Parliament from Thrissur constituency. This is the first time BJP has won a Parliament seat in Kerala. Cine actor Suresh Gopi won from Thrissur with a thumping majority of 74,686. In Thiruvanathapuram Rajeev Chandrashekhar came close to winning the seat. He was leading through most of the counting. Shashi Tharoor only scraped through with a slender majority of 16,077 votes. In Attingal seat V. Muraleedharan captured 3,11,779 votes with 31.6% votes. CPM led LDF could win only one seat out of 20 seats. Congress led UDF won 18 seats. Moreover, BJP gained majority in 11 Assembly constituencies. BJP’s vote share rose to 19.21 per cent, an increase of 3.57 per cent compared to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Kerala which kept BJP at bay is changing. If the ruling CPM doesn’t take urgent measures the soonest, it is a real possibility that BJP will be a significant force to be reckoned with in Kerala in future. CPM also can not forget what happened to the party in West Bengal and Tripura!
Kerala’s CPM badly needs a course correction. Kerala society has changed and CPM has to change too. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan cannot be the face of that change.
- In the past 40 years – Kerala has become a predominantly middle class society and the party has to cater to their aspirations.
- CPM comes out as a Savarna leaning organisation. The haste and injustice in applying EWS reservation even undermining Dalit and Backward classes opportunities has alienated the masses from the party. Even Dalit scholarships were not distributed properly.
- CPM has no effective mechanism to counter the wider mainstream and social media narratives being peddled.
- Under Pinarayi – home ministry has become like a central department. Sangh Parivar interests are being catered to by the Police force. Even the boards of police stations are in Hindi even though Hindi is not an official language of Kerala.
I suggest the following
- Dr. Thomas Issac should become the Chief Minister. He will be able to move the plank to a social welfare one from the Savarna pandering narrative today. Kerala’s GST collection has to rise drastically. The state that does 4.2% of India’s GDP and 7% of overall consumption accounts for only 2% of GST collections. There is massive pilferage that needs to be addressed.
- Home Ministry should be given to an able hand who can look into it 24×7. Major cases and attitude changes of police to be monitored at the ministry level. Hands off approach must go.
- Caste census to be implemented and SC/OBC reservations to be updated. EWS reservations has to be reviewed based on backwardness. Focused programs to cater to Dalit and Backward groups.
- Mainstream and social media interventions have to be made effective. More effort and resources to be mobilised for that purpose.
- Above all, Party has to promote rationalism and shun any type of religious pandering. It has to work with people to further their economic and physical welfare.
Anuraj Ennai is an entrepreneur
