The Left Democratic Front (LDF) drew flak from Opposition parties for deputing Chief Secretary V.P. Joy to evaluate the BJP-ruled Gujurat administration’s e-governance initiative titled ‘Chief Minister’s DashBoard’.
The system reportedly accords the CM administrative data with a high level of granularity to set goals, evaluate governance in real-time and take decisions on the fly.
By some accounts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had suggested that other States examine the model and tailor it to their needs if found helpful.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s embrace of Gujurat by attempting to emulate its contentious governance model collided with the CPI(M) stance on Sangh Parivar politics.
It underscored the CPI(M)‘s symbiotic association with the BJP to enfeeble the Congress.
The decision, debatably, went against the grain of LDF’s rejection of the Gujurat model since the 2002 Godhra riots that overwhelmingly targetted Muslims, he said.
For one, it had in 2009 expelled Kannur MP, A.P. Abdullahkutty, for “praising” Mr. Modi, who was Gujarat’s Chief Minister.
KPCC president K. Sudhakaran said the turnaround reflected the Janus-faced nature of the CPI(M).
The party had attacked the Oommen Chandy government in 2013 for allowing Labour Minister Shibu Baby John to visit Gujurat to study the State's skill development programme, he recalled.
SDPI State general secretary Roy Arackal said the CPI(M) appeared hell-bent on replicating the Gujurat brand of State-backed "fascist-corporate and anti-minority" rule in Kerala. Mr. Modi and Amit Shah had ascended to power by terrorising minorities and Dalits. Mr. Vijayan seemed keen to repeat the experiment in Kerala.
BJP State secretary and former Mizoram governor Kummanam Rajasekharan said the CPI(M) had finally realised that the Gujurat model was ideal. It would eradicate corruption, fast track governance and public service delivery at a stroke and empower citizens.
CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran, however, made light of the controversy. He said government to government interaction on administrative matters was routine. No LDF legation had gone to Gujarat.
