Organisation man faces Kerala CM test

The CPI(M) politburo has made a very pragmatic choice in picking Pinarayi Vijayan (72) over party elder V.S. Achuthanandan (92). Having fought for years to stay relevant to the Indian polity after being wiped out of governance roles — now restricted to just Tripura in the Northeast — the Left has just won back a major southern state to govern and the Marxists would have to drive the coalition to win back the trust of the people as a party that can establish a rule to serve them well enough.

From virtual extinction to governance is a major step forward for the Marxists under Sitaram Yechury, who took over from party apparatchik Prakash Karat, accused of inviting derision upon the Left by seeming to place self and family above party priorities. The Marxists had to do some tightrope walking in naming the chief executive of the state as it could not possibly tread on the toes of the party elder “VS” and onetime dissident who was the star crowd-puller in the campaign in which he was projected as the Che Guevara of revolutionary politics.

In hailing him now as “Kerala’s Fidel Castro”, they have sought to placate the seasoned party elder who has seen it all in his long career. “VS” is on record as saying he would rather be seen as the people’s sentinel or watchdog, which might mean Pinarayi Vijayan might feel hemmed in by the senior breathing down his neck. Also, “VS” was not convinced like the others that he was too old to be in the chief minister’s chair in today’s tough political environment.

And then, of course, there is the cloud of uncertainty hanging over Pinarayi Vijayan in the Lavalin power case, expected to come up before the high court soon. How the rivalry between the two plays out might have a bearing on how the public perceive the Marxists in the role of rulers. The special CBI court judge exonerated Pinarayi Vijayan and others in 2013, holding that the allegations against the accused were “groundless” and that the charges of conspiracy and cheating were not at all proved.

Pinarayi’s political career had, in the meanwhile, become a testament to the alarming “speed” at which the Indian judicial system operates as he had lost the right to contest elections for 15 years. He may have used the interregnum from electoral politics to become the stern party loyalist and arrive at where he has now as not only the organisation man but the CM as well. The big test facing the CM of the LDF government would be to drive the state towards greater industrialisation as a means of job creation.