Friday, October 07, 2005

Gimme a Reason...

The dust is yet to settle down on Kerala's Panchayat elections. Alliances and last-minute adjustments are still on...ironically politics is only for the common man...for politicians convenience has become the byword. The hilarious spectacle of CPM-BJP, Congress-BJP, Congress-CPM, League-BJP, League-CPM tie-ups in many of Kerala's villages indicate how grassroot politics work despite all the bravado and stances taken by state leaders. Despite all this, what left me most disheartened was the cold-shoulder Keralites lend to a Chief Minister who has worked tirelessly and almost 24/7 in bringing so much development and dynamicity to a government machinery which has stagnated all these years and as I write, this man is in Chandigarh attending the Chief Ministers conference and bagging more funds, projects and support from the central government. Shame on you all!

Oommen Chandy's sins:
1) Bringing a Smart City Project to be located on land provided in 60's and 70's to industries to set up shop and start functioning but who stayed away bcoz of fear of lockouts, militant trade unions and which left all that prime real estate unused all these years.
2) The much delayed expansion of the Trivandrum International Airport which has been in the negotiating phase for 20 years and he achieved it in 6 months.
3) The Palayam underpass...another project which wuz talked and talked abt for years! What I love most about the Congress is how much our Trivandrum roads have widened over the last 4 years of their rule!!
4) The Vallarpadam Trans-Shipment Terminal - Though Antony got the sanction for it, it has been Chandy's pereseverance as he lobbied with tirelesssly with Manmohan to make this project realize fruition and make Cochin the hottest cargo destination in the Indian Ocean.
5) The Mass Contact Program - No CM has dared to step outside the air-conditioned comforts of the Cliff House or Secretariat so regularly and interface with the public, hear out their complaints, take steps to solve their problems like OC has done...visiting 14 districts, sitting with the people 12 hours at a stretch clearing files which had gathered so much of dust over the ages....comeon mates give this man something to cheer about.

Its a pity, all thats wrong with Kerala's pseudo-morality gets blamed on this man... if an ice-cream parlor case, kiliroor sex-scandal, VAT implementation all gathers flak...we as citizens are equally responsible to prevent these from happening just as much a politicians. VAT succeeded in Andhra Pradesh but failed in Kerala...despite an astute man like Vakkom Purushothaman at the helm, the powerful Vyapari Vyavasayi Bullshit Samiti has ensured the valuable revenue collection that wuz needed to take all our develolment efforts ahead failed. So much is being made of the DICK-factor in these polls, but everyone knows how badly they fared in places they stood without CPM support...again shame on all you people who could vote for an enemy of the state like Murali and Karunakaran. What a pity, Antony didnt quit much earlier...4 years of his hesitation(or fear?) to act against dissidence have alienated the people from the Congress. Our 92% literate and most politically-aware state saw 9 MLA's make a mockery of democracy by affixing their loyalty to Mr.K rather than the people who voted them in by resigning their seats. Thankfully the days of blackmail and political brinkmanship are over...

I was so disappointed with the election results until I talked to my mom, who said the UDF actually stands a bright chance in the assembly elections. With a 60% polling rate, the victory margins for the cpm were not big though they they won 70% of the seats in this elections. In assembly elections Kerala has an almost 80%+ polling rate and this 20% rise is entirely made up of udf voters who are unfortunately not as politically zealous as their left brethren to venture out of their homes on polling day. Her reasoning gave me a lot of hope. Moreover I remember the case of Digvijay Singh in Madhya Pradesh who overcame incumbency in a strange way much similar to what the Congress is going through today. After winning a landslide election and first term he lost every following by-election, parliament and panchayat polls but turned the predictions of every political pundit around by winning a second term as Chief Minister. Well, Kerala never had a CM win a second straight term but this is a crucial year in our State's history and development and we finally have a man who is humble, sincere, courageous and intelligent and has the long-term plans, the political will-power and the energy needed to undo 40 years of Kerala's self-destruction. All you people, wont you give him another chance, for our sake and for our future generations, if not, gimme a sound reason...

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

No hard feelings but, not even in the wildest of dreams is UDF going to win the assembly elections...None can stop the inevitable!..

Actually people are too fedup with all the things that happened during the past 5 years and defintely needs a change. Not even in the wildest of my dreams am I dreaming that LDF is going make some miracle happen out here but people or maybe I on a personal note definitely needs a change!
And dont tell me about the voting..I was a UDF supporter..and I didnt go to vote for the panchayats..but next time I will be going and you dont need to be einstien to figure out as to where i am gonna vote..

And dont tell me that a not yet started smart city(I agree lDF is a hindrance here, but then OC has the power of the CM,if he is not able to do anything ..please ask him to get out and bring someone who can do the necessary!!..we dont need pazhams to sit in the CM seat..), a palayam uderpass and a few things like these are what the government could have done in these 5 years..duh

Frankly speaking I doubt whether the UDF is ever going to come back to power again in Kerala..

Cheers!

Geo said...

Agree to your ideas in general.

I am a leftist ideologist at heart. But sadly, the actions of Indian left parties are never aligned with a socialist, communist or any other logical ideology. Theirs is a destructive, out of time strategy.

The sad part about Kerala politics is that it is based on a simple rotational logic. 5 years for UDF, next 5 for LDF. So next assembly poll WILL see LDF coming back to power with at least 110 seats...

I feel that the Panchayat elections are more often decided by the local sentiments and not based on any state wide waves. One thing I hope for is at least those constituencies which will get the candidates Mr.K.Karunakaran, Mr.K.Muralidharan and Ms.Pathmaja wont forget the deplorable dirty tricks they have been practicing to perfection for the last 4+ years.

silverine said...

Well my folks are predicting what your mom has said, or rather praying... I must say :))

Jiby said...

ha ha anonymous, i think i know who you are...but why is it that you didnt leave a name!!! i wonder why you havent felt a difference in the government in the last one year...have you lost your objectivity? come on man, smart city is to be built on 1000 acres...its not something you start building tomorrow without any planning...and is that why you are calling OC a pazham???? in one year are all these development initiatives i listed not enuf for you...and that too imagine the jobs and the revenue generated for the state...and he has gone ahead and implemented his promises unlike other politicos...and tell me what do you remember of the 4 years of Antony's rule other than all the infighting , the 5 years of E.K.Nayanar's rule other than the bankruptcy of the state, or of Mr.Karunakaran's 4 year rule in 91-95 when we lost the edge in IT investment??? if i think this is who you are, i am goin to have a lot of debates with you in december and convert you...lol!!!

Geo, I have a socialist inclination in areas like education, health-care, civil-supplies and land reforms which have a direct influence on poor people and I think thats why the Kerala model implemented by the first EMS cabinet was path-breaking. Since then I have felt the communist parties regressing and have done more harm than good to the state. Your prediction of 110 seats is realistic but i am wondering what the swing factor of udf voters arriving for the assembly polls will be!

Silverine, lets all hope for the best, but its politically inflexible people like Anonymous who are in the majority.

Anonymous said...

ya ya its me..as usual i forgot to put my name:).. Comon man, noooooo debate regarding political crap during december!!..we have loads of better things to do..

Every govt has their good and bad, we can go on arguing ON and ON and ON like the political leaders do,

And as far the congress goes, leave alone OC, I really dont think they are going to seek power again in Kerala. If it was not for the Muslim league support these guys would have been in drains long before. As of now Muslim league too are loosing their seats, so things are too bad with the UDF..I dont see even a 1% chance.

Time to break my fast( Ya I am fasting, dont faint..haha)..

catchya later

cheers!
Shan

Jiby said...

eda pulle...ninte ezhuthe njan innum innaleyum kaanunnathallallo...i know why u wont support udf anymore...bcoz ur dad is a Karunakaran supporter, rite??? when we were all pro-left in college u were the only congress supporter... bcoz ur dad wuz a hard-core congressman!

i wuz just kidding when i said we'll have debates as of old times...ooh lots of adventures to be had....so little time... neways u guys always gave up to me on debates...lol!

enthuvaade ee sambhavikkunnathe...nee fasting, viswan vegetarian, hoh... payyanmaarkke vanna changes!!! but i guess thats all part of our ageing process.

Anonymous said...

Almost every soul in Kerala Knows that Oomen Chandy is corrupt to every atom of his...So,Your singing praises of the 'Saint' really made me go into tremors of laughter...

Jiby said...

you who laughs most forgets that power corrupts everyone...a man who talks the language of development will never be understood in kerala...and thats our fate. it takes one politican to voice a corruption allegation but it takes a statesman and that too a courageous one to envision a kerala plentiful with jobs and good infrastructure.

Anonymous said...

the last anonymous was not me:-/

Shan

Jiby said...

aliya, ur the best!!! hahaha...njan chiriche thalli seeing ur comment... of course i knew thats not u...looks like somebody wanted to sneak in a comment in ur guise!

Jiby said...

never too late, man...never too late! i am happy you created a blog too. there is something called a tag which i have passed to people like arun, anoop, jofu and u. the link to mine is http://jiby216.blogspot.com/2005/09/my-sevenbefore-im-in-heaven.html and you can check arun's out too http://wonderyearz.blogspot.com/2005/09/my-sevenbefore-im-in-heaven.html
Will you try it out?

Unknown said...

@shan: Ppl needed a change and voted for LDF?? i guess what sort of change this is? when ppl gets fed up with LDF for next 5 yrs, theyll go for UDF..Its nothing but a power sharing! every one knows it! Kerala needs change not just 5yr term changes but quite long term changes
@jiby: UDF or LDF quite sure politics is another course students get in colleges. If u r smart enough and if u have some one top in the ladder you can have one more group in with ur initials.(Dont worry if ur initals are already taken up, u can have prefixes,suffices and even indices also!) We need no gud ppl in the govt, but only politicians! I was thought this by one of my seniors in my campus political life . the fact is he hold one of the lucartive posts in the so called politiocs today..the underlined word is lucarative.