Leader of Opposition V. D. Satheesan, on Tuesday attempted to draw an equivalence between the economic and political policies of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Interacting with journalists in Thiruvananthapuram, Mr. Satheesan said both parties had forsaken "centralised planning critical to a developing nation like India for mega projects".
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had abandoned the Nehruvian type centrally planned mixed economy that had stood the country in good stead till 2014, he said. Instead, he zealously embraced neo-liberalism with an emphasis on mega projects. The BJP has withheld investing capital in critical sectors such as health, education, agriculture, price control and social welfare. It has abandoned planning.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has adopted the same strategy. He has abandoned investment in needy sectors and sunk borrowed capital in quixotic mega projects like K-Rail (Silverline). Both BJP and CPI(M) advantaged corporates and consultancies at the people's expense. Both parties were conjoined twins.
According to him, perhaps Mr. Modi could be excused. His BJP had always batted for big capital given its extreme right-wing and market-oriented nationalistic politics. The BJP has traditionally stood for less government, more private sector, doing away with price control, lowering trade barriers and deregulating capital markets. By aping Mr. Modi, Mr. Vijayan has committed the cardinal sin of abandoning the storied socialist outlook of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
It would be a misnomer to call the CPI(M) communist, he said. The party has abandoned its socialist values for a purely market-driven economy where big lenders decide development priorities. On the political front, CPI(M) and BJP were united in their opposition to Congress. Both wanted a so-called "Congress-free India". The CPI(M) is keen on exempting Congress from an anti-BJP front at the national level. A third front sans Congress is sure to come a cropper.
Mr. Satheesan said K-Rail was the epitome of opaqueness. "Even CPI ministers are in the dark about the semi high-speed railway. Recently, Jose. K. Mani of the Kerala Congress (M) had expressed his reservations about K-Rail. Mr. Vijayan is hard-pressed to convince even his closest allies about the scheme's viability".
In the North, the CPI(M) opposed bullet train projects. In Kerala, it employed double standards to defend K-Rail.
In contrast, the suburban rail system mooted by the United Democratic Front (UDF) was gaining traction in Kerala.
