Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on November 1, 2023 (Wednesday) inaugurated the week-long Keraleeyam festival that seeks to shed light on the richness of the State’s ethnic traditions, showcase the complexity of its evolution as a modern State and simultaneously present a marker of the polity’s promising future as a knowledge-based economy.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) boycotted the event, accusing the government of profligacy when the “treasury was bone-dry and people reeled under a debilitating cost of living crisis.”
In a politically themed inaugural address, Mr. Vijayan confronted fraught issues such as feudal and casteist hegemony that informed Kerala’s past and how renaissance movements and agrarian revolutions helped the State replace the oppressive and colonialist social structure with a modern, egalitarian, secular and welfare-oriented society.
Mr. Vijayan saluted the first communist government under former Chief Minister E.M.S. Namboodiripad for initiating land reforms that conferred ownership rights of farm and homestead land to tenants and agriculture workers, while setting a ceiling on the extent of land an individual could own.
He said the stress on free education till the Class 10, decentralisation of power, total literacy, public health, and an expanded social welfare net catapulted Kerala to the top of the physical quality of life index chart and spurred its development.
Secular unity
He reminisced about how Kerala’s secular unity helped it survive catastrophic floods and also resisted forces that repeatedly sought to divide the State into religious lines to slyly prospect for political gains.
Mr. Vijayan said Kerala’s resilient public health system did not buckle under pressure during the COVID-19 pandemic and later helped defeat other viral outbreaks, including Nipah.
Mr. Vijayan said the social mechanics of Kerala’s storied political transformation from a moribund medieval society to a modern secular State in a short span would inform its future as a robust knowledge economy.
“Kerala is an oasis of peace, communal amity, development, secularism, learning, social welfare and liberalism in an increasingly strife-torn world. The message of social reformers and renaissance leaders guides Kerala’s progression to the future as a modern and liberal State,” he said.
The Chief Minister compared the first edition of Keraleeyam in 2023 to the Edinburgh International Festival, which sought to heal the trauma and economic bleakness caused by the Second World War by harnessing the power of art and enterprise as a salve for social emancipation, progress and lasting peace.
“Keraleeyam showcases Kerala to the world. It also provides an international venue for people from different walks of life and disciplines to propose and debate new directions to build Kerala into a formidable economy. The world will hear Kerala’s voice and see the promise it holds forth for humanity through Keraleeyam”, Mr. Vijayan said.
Immersive experience
He said the seven-day-long jamboree would provide an immersive experience that celebrates Kerala’s history and political transformation and illuminate modernity’s impact on the State.
He said art forms, installations and stage performances would showcase the push and pull of modernity and convention in Kerala society.
A galaxy of politicians, film stars, celebrities and opinion leaders was on the stage. Actors Kamal Haasan, Sobhana, Mohanlal and Mammotty added celebrity glamour to the inaugural function. Revenue Minister K. Rajan presided.
