Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, VD Satheesan, on Monday launched a sharp attack on the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, alleging a complete collapse of governance in the State and claiming that the treasury is empty.
Addressing a press conference at Thalassery in Kannur district, Satheesan said that even Left sympathisers do not want the LDF to return to power. “They are only reflecting the general sentiment prevailing in Kerala,” he said.
Backing poet and Kerala Sahitya Akademi Chairman K. Satchidanandan’s recent criticism of the LDF, Satheesan said the noted Left intellectual had merely echoed what the United Democratic Front (UDF) has been consistently saying. “Satchidanandan has voiced the general sentiment of Kerala,” he added.
“Even good communists within the Communist Party and Left comrades are not interested in the continuation of this government. Those who are most aware of the decline of the CPI(M) are its own comrades. Satchidanandan’s words only confirm that reality,” Satheesan said.
Poet K. Satchidanandan, along with acclaimed writer and activist Sarah Joseph, has publicly called for a change of government in Kerala.
Speaking to the media on Monday, Satchidanandan reiterated his stand that alternating governments are essential for a healthy democracy. “It is a basic democratic principle that power should alternate between the ruling party and the opposition,” he said, adding that his view was shaped by the experience of West Bengal.
“I have learned about the Bengal experience directly from party members there. When a government continues for long, many people enter it without the party’s knowledge and with selfish motives. Instead of decentralisation, power becomes increasingly centralised,” he said.
Sarah Joseph also said on Monday that a change of government was necessary in the State. “The Left today is about power, not democracy,” she alleged, adding that being in the opposition is often beneficial for a ruling party.
She accused the present regime of attempting to silence the media, which she described as the voice of the people. “All communist parties are destroyed when they move towards authoritarianism. Power gets concentrated in the hands of one person, leading to dictatorship, which ultimately destroys the party,” she said.
Joseph warned that the BJP could fill the political vacuum after the LDF’s decline and said that the excessive branding around Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan could prove harmful.