Intolerance, opportunism and that deprived feeling

Baffling political alliances continue in Kerala

There were incidents galore —mostly cheerless ones and then dream projects that did not happen leaving a large section of the youth frustrated and disillusioned. 

If 2010 would go down in the annals of history, it would be for the gruesome “hand chopping”of a Christian professor as he was returning with family from Sunday mass on July 4.  Professor T K Joseph was forced out of his car, his hands stretched out on the road and the right palm chopped off with an axe. The dastardly act carried out by members of a radical Muslim organisation revealed the stunning underbelly of Kerala’s much famed peaceful communal coexistence. 

Prof Joseph’s crime was that he used the name Mohammed in a “dubious”context in a question paper he had set for an internal examination in Thodupuzha Newman’s College in Idukki district. The gruesome attack happened days after he had apologised for hurting the sentiments of a community, if any. The incident inflicted a deep wound in the social psyche of the state and left  many petrified.

Allround condemnation from even members of the Muslim community seems to have done some damage control though key members of the gang are still at large. The politics behind the incident also came to the fore when it was revealed that Prof Joseph was a member of a left-leaning teachers’ organisation. Making matters worse, the Church which runs the college disowned the professor and expelled him suspecting his intentions.

Emboldened by this gesture, the left organisations came allout to help him in his hour of need.

That deprived feeling

For many reasons, 2010 will be seen by Keralites as yet another year of frustration and deprivation. Instead of recalling what had happened, many would remember it for what had not happened. The sample reference here is to the Smart City project in Kochi and opening of the completed new terminal of the Thiruvananthapuram international airport which are both in limbo.

The six-year-long bilateral talks between the Kerala Government and Tecom Investments were expected to bear fruit this year. However, the lack of progress in the Rs 1,500- crore knowledge township project this year too has been projected by all and sundry as the mascot of the Achuthanandan Government’s inefficiency. On the surface, the major disagreement between the two sides is the freehold rights sought by the promoters on a portion of the land given by the government. However, it is clear that the main reason for the project making little headway is the factional war between Mr Achuthanandan and Mr Pinarayi Vijayan in the CPM which leads the ruling LDF.

Nothing illustrates the regressive influence of politics on Kerala’s destiny than the much-delayed opening of the new terminal of Thiruvanantha- puram international airport.
The opening of the terminal which was completed five months ago has been put off to January just because of an “ego clash” between the CPM and the Congress. The Centre strangely deputed Overseas Development Minister and Congress leader Vayalar Ravi to open the terminal which the state government opposed tooth and nail. The state government wants the prime minister to open the terminal in January even at the cost of leaving the facility unused for five months. 

That politics makes strange bedfellows everyone knows. How then can one explain the unexpected exit of the Kerala Congress (Joseph)from the ruling LDF and its merger with the Kerala Congress (M)with whom the party has been at daggers drawn for three decades. The LDF and the CPM alleged that the Church was behind this unholy merger and that religion had taken precedence over political propriety. The Church and the KC(M)have both rubbished this claim though they have not been so convincing.

Madhani’s dramatic arrest

The year also saw the unexpected arrest and charging of PDP chairman Abdul Nasser Madhani by Bangalore police in the serial blasts case. For Keralites who had seen the Muslim cleric-turned-politician crying on television while narrating his sufferings in Coimbatore jail in connection with the blasts there, this was a shock. The PDP leader’s arrest by Karnataka police on August 17 after cops camped here for several days had come at the end of high drama. The LDF Government, already in the mood to play the populist card to get closer to any section or group, delayed his arrest as best as possible. While Madhani had alleged victimisation by the BJP-led dispensation in Karnataka, both the LDF and UDF have taken the stand that the law should take its course in the case. Though the last has not been heard in the case, suddenly nobody in Kerala is speaking of Madhani anymore.