The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala has sensed a political victory in Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s expression of solidarity with his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan who is scheduled to stage a high-profile protest in New Delhi on February 8 against the Centre’s alleged trespasses on the foundational ideals of cooperative federalism.
The LDF has also sought to portray Mr. Stalin’s post in Malayalam on X (formerly Twitter) that the DMK would join Mr. Vijayan, his Cabinet and LDF legislators in the demonstration at Jantar Mantar as an oblique critique of the Congress’s (a trusted DMK ally) refusal to find a common cause with the Kerala government in the State’s struggle against the Central government’s alleged jurisdictional overreach.
In his social media post, Mr. Stalin also sought to put the right of States to self-governance at the top of the political agenda of non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State governments.
He said, “Comrade Pinarayi”, himself, “Sister Mama” (West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee) from the East, and more leaders whose faith in the Constitution remained unshaken have rallied for the right of States to self-governance.”
Mr. Stalin added that the “fascist BJP would never be able to douse the flames fanned by the slogan of self-governance”.
Kerala Industries Minister P. Rajeeve had invited Mr. Stalin to participate in the demonstration. In a letter to Mr. Vijayan, Mr. Stalin said Tamil Nadu stood in solidarity behind Kerala’s lawsuit in the Supreme Court to insulate States against the Central government’s trespasses on the fiscal autonomy of States.
Mr. Vijayan would lead his Cabinet and members of the LDF legislative party on foot from Kerala House to Jantar Mantar. The CPI(M)‘s sole MP from Kerala, A.M. Ariff, would join the march.
Mr. Vijayan had personally invited Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) national general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty to lend the Congress-led United Democratic Front’s (LDF) weight to the struggle for Kerala’s federal rights.
Political boundaries
However, Mr. Satheesan, purportedly compelled by the pressures of provincial politics, clearly delineated the political boundaries between the UDF and the LDF in Kerala by rejecting Mr. Vijayan’s invitation.
In an open letter to Mr. Vijayan, Mr. Satheesan termed the LDF’s narrative laying the entire blame for the State’s crippling financial crisis on the Centre hugely misleading.
Mr. Satheesan said the Centre’s strangulation of the State’s finances had merely exacerbated the fiscal crisis precipitated by the LDF’s economic mismanagement, corruption, extravagance and slack tax administration. He said Kerala had become a haven for tax dodgers.
The Congress also seemed chary of any attempt to blur the line between the ruling and opposing alliances in provincial politics, fearing it would benefit the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls.
(At a public rally in Thrissur in January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi drew a political equivalency between the LDF and the UDF by repeatedly referring to the Pinarayi Vijayan government as an INDIA bloc administration, given the Congress’s understanding with the CPI(M) at the national level. Moreover, the BJP’s Lok Sabha campaign in Kerala sought to cast the “LDF-UDF revolving door politics” as the State’s bane.)
Mr. Satheesan had stated that the UDF would launch its agitation against the Centre’s trespasses on federalism sans the LDF.
Mr. Satheesan had said the “UDF unanimously decided not to fall into the trap set by the CPI(M)“.
The decision dovetailed with the Congress’s line that the CPI(M) and the BJP shared a symbiotic association in Kerala to undermine the party’s electoral chances, mainly because of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s possible candidature from the Wayanad constituency in the impending Lok Sabha elections.
Much to the UDF’s chagrin, the LDF has also made much of the fact that Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah had railed against the Centre for reducing his State’s share in the national revenue. His government has announced a “Delhi Chalo” protest at Jantar Mantar on February 7.
The LDF also found common cause with Mr. Siddaramaiah’s perception that the Central government’s National Education Policy (NEP) ran against the grain of federalism, democracy and secularism enshrined in the Constitution. He also formulated a Karnataka-specific education policy, considering the State’s social, cultural and economic milieu.
The LDF had also declared that it would not implement the NEP in Kerala.
In December past, CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan had alleged that the Congress felt “increasingly isolated” in the UDF by unthinkingly parroting the BJP’s line that the LDF was to blame for the fiscal crisis while remaining suspiciously silent on the ₹64,000 crore the Centre owed the State under various heads of accounts.
He also claimed that the IUML had evinced interest in cooperating with the LDF to wrest what the Centre financially owed Kerala.
Mr. Govindan also said that Congress leader T.N. Prathapan, MP, had given notice for an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha, echoing the LDF’s line on the Centre’s strangulation of Kerala’s finances.
