The steep hike in taxes including that on petrol, diesel and alcohol has hit the common man where it hurts the most. The state of Kerala and the ruling communist dispensation seems like an episode straight out of black mirror. In an Orwellian manner the government is running an ‘animal farm’ feasting on the resources of the common man.
Kerala is going through a bleak phase aggravated by worsening social and financial conditions. The debt level of the state stands at record levels and the state is also witnessing stagnation in human development indices due to lack of investments in this sector. Turning to a pure consumeristic state without any major industries or agricultural activities, the state heavily relays on taxes on alcohol and petroleum products. But the ruling dispensation of Kerala seems unbothered. Like feudalistic landlords munching on the resources of poor serves, the Communist party is exploiting the common man of the state. While the state is suffering, the CM and his entourage is indulging in lavish wastage of public resources.
The Extravagant Foreign Trips
Pinarayi Vijayan had taken 19 foreign trips after assuming the office of the Chief Minister till 2023. But among these only details of 5 of them are available. As per the sources, ₹32.58 lakh was spent on his official trips to UAE in 2016, USA in 2018, Japan in 2019 and two trips to USA in 2022 for medical treatment. Expenditure on the other 14 trips is not revealed yet. In all together the Chief Minister and the Ministers of Kerala have made 85 foreign trips over the past 6.5 years of LDF governance.
Of these, while CM Vijayan tops the list with 15 foreign visits, Kadakampally Surendran is the second with 13 and E P Jayarajan third with 7 foreign visits. The CM and team travelled in Europe for 3 days each in Netherlands and Switzerland, and a day each in France and UK, in May 2019. The CM visited UAE 6 times. M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to the CM, had actively joined all these trips, leading to later controversies and allegations. M Sivasankar is currently under scanner regarding gold smuggling and corruption allegations during the time he worked as personnel secretary to CM. The CM visited the USA for 4 times. Other foreign places the CM visited include Bahrain, Japan and South Korea.
It is not about his visits in official capacity that has raised eyebrows but his visits in personal capacity and footing the bill on public. There is a writ petition pending in High Court that has put these trips under the scanner. The petitioner, in his writ petition, alleged the Vijayan had, for his trips which were ‘personal’ in nature – These trips were to USA and UAE in different time periods. The CM’s trips had also attracted criticism as his family members also were along with him-using money from public funds. Last year, Pinarayi visited several European countries with his wife, daughter and grandson. There were also criticisms over on a foreign trip amidst the state’s acute financial crunch. But the foreign trip saga of Pinarayi Vijayan is only tip of the iceberg of wastage of public money undertaken by CM and his entourage.
The Never-Ending Convoy And Security Cover
Last year the government bought a dozen new vehicles for use of CM and other ministers. The exchequer has already spent ₹4 crore on these purchases despite a blanket ban on purchase of new vehicles owing to financial crisis. CM tops the list in the purchase of new vehicles. Recently, the finance department had approved ₹88.7 lakh for buying a Kia Carnival (8AT Limousine plus 7) car and three Innova Crysta cars for CM’s use. The saga of never-ending convoy is aggravated by the fact that heightened security cover is provided to the CM which is largely hurting the common man. It is not only the purchases which hurts the public but also the heightened security. It is uncertain why the CM scares the public so much that he boosted his security. The boosted security is comparable to what India provides to visiting heads of states. The boosted security has resulted in violation of basic human rights, like the cops recently taking a man into preventive custody, leaving him with no means to take his mother for a cancer examination. School children stuck in traffic, cancer patient stranded and ban on buying medicines etc has become a common incident in Kerala.
Public Money For Political Purposes
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan had come out against the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front government’s anti- Citizenship (Amendment) Act [CAA] advertisement on the front page of national dailies and said spending public money for political campaigning is “thoroughly undesirable.” “…public money is being used to campaign against a law which has been passed by Parliament. Sounds a bit strange to me.,” he stated at that time. The Kerala government had published in three national dailies that the State had taken “bold initiatives to address the apprehensions of the public” and had stayed the National Population Register drive that could lead to the NRC (National Register of Citizens). The State government had on August 7, 2017 published an advertisement in the national capital that the State had one of the lowest crime rates in the country, to counter a campaign by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh against the CPI(M) in Kerala over political killings. The usage of public money for political purpose by the communist government is an unethical act considering vulnerable financial position of the state of Kerala.
Immoral Spending Spree Amidst Financial Crunch
Kerala is in an extremely bad financial situation. The debt of Kerala government has climbed to almost ₹4,00,000 crore and small Kerala has surpassed most of the Indian states in this debt situation. The Debt/GDP ratio is at 37% and is worsening dad by dad. The recent budget unveiled by Kerala also points to this bleak and precarious financial situation of the state. The steep hike in taxes including that on petrol, diesel and alcohol has hit the common man where it hurts the most. The state of Kerala and the ruling communist dispensation seems like an episode straight out of black mirror. In an Orwellian manner the government is running an ‘animal farm’ feasting on the resources of the common man. The Kerala is staring at bleak times ahead due to its precarious financial situation, the spending spree by CM amidst this only points to unethical model of governance which is harmful to citizens.
Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.