Kerala, perhaps, has the unique distinction of being the
only place in the world where burning issues of the state rarely make
headlines. The Government, media, intellectuals and even the general public are
oblivious of crucial issues around them which have a direct impact on their
life, and focus their attention on what is happening in Utopia.
Public discourse in Kerala is always on certain
pre-determined topics like ‘dangers posed by the rise of BJP, Donald Trump’s
rise in the US, importance of eating beef, etc. The background could be any
place on earth except Kerala.
This is no exaggeration. Those who have listened to the speeches
of present chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan will agree. Comrade starts his
speech thundering against the dictatorial traits of US president-elect Donald
Trump and the sufferings of North African migrants in Europe. (It doesn’t
matter for comrade Vijayan that his words do not have any significance for
Trump, Americans or migrants to Europe) Then, he lashes out at the “
pro-capitalist moorings of Narendra Modi and the danger posed by BJP to the
secular structure of India.” To wind up, he will murmur a few words on
developments in Kerala. By the time, majority of audience would have dispersed.
Afterwards, at the tea shops and barber shops in Kannur and Kollam loyal
comrades will discuss about the need to make Kerala society aware of the ill
effects of the rise of right wing in the
US.
However, they are blissfully ignorant about the health
hazards posed by the piling up garbage in front of their homes or shops. The
common response will be who cares!
Prime time discussions in news channels focus on what is
happening in Washington and Gujarat. Kasaragod and Neyyattinkara (small towns
in Kerala) are Neptune and Pluto to them. While Rohit Vemoola’s fate was discussed
by channels for months, they took up the issue of unnatural death of Jishnu
Pranoy an engineering student at Nehru College at Pampady in Kerala, allegedly
after torture by college authorities, was taken up after social media forced
them.
The pseudo-left hold the sway over the public intellect
and has brainwashed the public to think that it is important to ignore local issues
and focus on what is happening elsewhere. Here is an example.
Once, I met a Keralite chef at a coffe shop in one of the
cities in Gulf. He had completed more than 20 years in the same shop. He
started as a cleaning boy and became a shawarma maker in course. As I became a
regular customer, he began to talk to me and I found that he believed in a
peculiar mix of ideology based on CPM brand Communism and aggressive Islamism
preached by extremist groups in Kerala. He was living in very poor conditions
and was paid a meagre salary. But he seemed never bothered about his own
conditions. He always talked about the need to defeat BJP and Narendra Modi and
the dangers posed by them and wanted his customers also to follow his line.
One day, I found him very disturbed and asked him about
it. He said his mother had become very ill and had been hosptialized. He wanted
to visit her but the shop owner who was also a comrade from his own village was
denying him leave. The shop owner comrade had taken possession of his passport
and had not allowed him to go home for the last five years. Moreover, he was
never paid the salary promised in his contract. I helped him to file a
complaint with the labour department and embassy and later his problem was
solved partly. They allowed him to go home but he lost his job and major part
of money due to him. Before leaving he thankfully told me, that the incident
had opened his eyes. “I cannot
understand why I obeyed the commands of those who never allowed me to think
about my plight. They misguided me and forced me to focus on issues that don’t
affect me while exploiting me,” he said.
Every Kerala migrant in Gulf will have similar stories to
tell. Even in the Gulf they live thinking and reading about issues that matter
little to them and opposing imaginary exploitations that are taking place in
some remote African land. They never think about exploitations by their own
Malayali business owner and Arab sheikh. Every year politicians from Kerala,
especially Left politicians, come to Gulf and snatch away part of their hard
earned money as donations to party fund. They never ask any questions to those
who made them exile to hot Arabian deserts and spend their whole lives there
separated from their families at home.
Unemployment
doesn’t lead to social unrest
The same applies to migrants from Kerala to other
countries like Australia, US and Europe. The lesser fortunate migrants rush to
Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and other Indian cities. The high rate of unemployment
resulting from total destruction of agricultural sector ( food grain and
coconut) and lack of industries would have resulted in social unrest in any
other part of the world and would have turned the youth against ruling class
(Communists in Kerala context). But that didn’t happen in Kerala. The propaganda
machinery of the left has been very successful in Kerala to divert the ire of
unemployed against imaginary enemies who are often imperialists, capitalists
and communalists operating in unknown territories or BJP.
The left creates the impression that Kerala is the most
developed land in India and it is the left rule that brought about this. Even
non resident Keralities in GCC, who sweat it out in the sweltering Arabian
deserts to feed their dear and near in Kerala nod in agreement. Pseudo-Left
economists like Amartya Sen write thesis on Kerala Model Development and
proclaim that Left rule has made Kerala God’s own Country when the truth is
migrants from Kerala who shed their blood and sweat in unknown deserts of Gulf and sacrifice their
lives in the icy cold lands of Europe should be given the credit for the
development of Kerala.
It might be true that communists have drafted land
reforms in kerala and Congress had implemented it. It might have helped the
society at a certain stage. But those political parties were unable to take it
forward. They opposed mechanised farming which ended agriculture sector,
especially cultivation of food grains and coconut. They opposed computerisation. The result was
while Bangalore progressed to become the silicon valley of India, Though Thiruvananthapuram
Technopark was one of the first major IT initiatives in India, Kerala is
lagging way behind Bangalore. While Chennai rose to become the Detroit of Asia,
Kerala has nothing to boast. Even the less developed north Indian states have
made giant leaps in development in the last decade. But Kerala is relying more
and more on NRK deposits. Once, roads in Kerala were models to other states.
Now even Lucknow’s roads will make Kerala envious.
But Kerala’s outdated left political leadership will
dismiss all these realities and will cite Kerala’s Human Development to point
out that the state has invested in human development which is the real
development. But this is actually belittling the hard working Malayali who
works outside the state and invests in developing his children so that they
will also get a job outside. It is the NRK who invests in human development not
the state. Left politicians deny him even the credit of developing his
children.
The peculiar propaganda unleashed by the left has
actually widened the divisions in the society. Keralities don’t have a feeling
of oneness. MPs from the state never stand united above politics to fight for
the rights of the state.
In the light of above facts Keralites need to do a
reality check. Rather than thinking and fighting for things that don’t affect
them, Keralities need to think about their own needs and fight for a solution.
Otherwise they will lose many things in the coming days.
END
