The infighting in the Left Democratic Front is actually causing a lot of pain to people who voted them to power. Let us first face the fact that a lot of people who voted for the LDF aren't members of any of the parties. They voted for the LDF because they were tired by the corruption and lack of accountability and complete breakdown of the administrative machinery during the United Democratic Front't rule.
I remember the last days of the UDF government. I had just returned from Delhi, and what I saw was something unimaginable in a state like Kerala which prides itself on its awareness and liberal outlook. Just one example: the police were out in the streets flagging down and checking any vehicle and fining them, trying to extort money from motorists. And if you wanted to complain about it to someone higher up, the officer you approached would ask you to grease his palms! The general feeling was the ruling leaders had let the policemen out on the streets to make money even as they themselves were lining their pockets.
Okay, now the funny thing was while the police were so active on the roads the thieves were having a field day! There were gangs of robbers roaming the streets, even in Thiruvananthapuram, and going about their 'profession' with immunity!
Now, this was one instance of UDF misrule. And the people were tired of it. So the LDF came to power - not because of the charisma of VS Achutanandan or the cadre folloewing of the CPM!
Look at the state of affairs now! The faction war has hobbled the administration. Even as various kinds of fevers ravage the populace the state health minister is not to be seen. The treatment and cleaning drives are non-existent. All that the chief minister and his cronies are worried about is image building, while leaving the day-to-day functioning of the government in the hands of an inept bureaucracy! Even the party machinery which usually steps in to correct such mistakes is split along factional lines and engaged in a game of trying to run down each other.
Little wonder even die-hard Communists are now saying they made a mistake in voting this government to power.
They may be exaggerating: the LDF is still better than the corrupt and divisive UDF; but their feelings can only be ignored to the peril of the current government. That is the most insidious part of the current state of affairs. Public memory is short; the UDF can come back to power if the LDF continues on this track. Will we go back to those days of rampant corruption and extortion? I fear to think of it.
1 comment:
Iam afraid if Achutanandan has any construtive elements in him to lead a resourseful state like Kerala. Populism will die soon, and Kealites would realize that it is mobocracy than democarcy that this veteran stalinist is fond of.
In Munnar, a close scrutiny would reveal that it is Government against Government itself. Why should a layman get bothered if it is Raveendran or any other person who issued title deeds, as far as such documents bear the seal and signature of the competent revenue authority?
UDf, on the contrary, had some good administrators, but the infighting destablized the Government right from the beginning, and the 'after me my son' attitude of another veteran was too much for keralites to give them a second term.
Now the LDF is trying to ride on the Madani wave. When people are dying of fever everyday, the left leaders are posing as human rights champions! I hope a leadership change can better the situation for the LDF.
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