The Hindu Business Line : Left out of business in Kerala

While in most other States of India, it is a merely marginal presence, the Left enjoys an enviable clout that allows it to dictate the course of the State's social and economic development.

Right from the time E.M.S. Namboodiripad, the late patriarch of the CPI (M), invited G.D. Birla to invest in Kerala in the early 60s, businesses have learned how to woo Kerala's Left Democratic Front (LDF).

Many business leaders and captains of industry privately confess that they would rather do business under the regime of the LDF than the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF).

This is because an LDF Government can rein in the myriad trade unions that exist in the State.

Under a UDF Government, on the other hand, unions affiliated to the opposition LDF would forever be on the warpath, disrupting industrial relations.

All that was, of course, during the prime time of labour militancy in Kerala.

The State's unions have since been tamed, but the LDF's potential to throw a spanner in the industrial works is real - and potentially dangerous for a State that is desperately seeking industrial investment.

With power, needless to add, comes responsibility. That, sadly enough, is what seems to be lacking in the LDF, going by last week's public spat between the CPI (M) polit bureau member and Leader of the Opposition, V.S. Achuthanandan, and the party State secretary, Pinarayi Vijayan. The whole controversy revolves around the allegation that Coca-Cola was allowed to set up a bottling plant at Plachimada in Palakkad district without the knowledge of the CPI (M) and the LDF State committee.

There were similar allegations about the Kochi Industrial Water Supply Scheme too.

Two constituents of the LDF, the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), are miffed that both these projects had been pushed through by the LDF Government without the knowledge of the LDF State committee and the individual constituents.

It is not just power broking or plain vanity that is at play here.

Behind the controversy of decision-making lies a palpable discomfort on the part of the Left with the pursuit of private investment.

And now, more than ever before, the Left must not only learn to respond fast to such issues, it must also be seen to be industrially responsible.

That is the singular consequence of economic liberalisation in general and the recent UDF-sponsored Global Investors' Meet (GIM) held at Kochi, in particular.

Ironically enough, the very same Achuthanandan who fumes at the Coca-Cola plant had no qualms confabulating with Mukesh Ambani at the GIM.

Remember, Ambani heads Reliance, the company that will soon ensnare Kerala in its optic fibre cable network.

Reliance or no Reliance, the public of Kerala couldn't care less.

All it wants is good governance and equitable economic growth.

Neither of this seems to be easily guaranteed by the LDF and the CPI (M), in particular.

The public image of the CPI (M) has never been as low as it is today.

The party has also dragged the LDF into the quagmire of disrepute so much so that, for once, Kerala's long tradition of Governments alternating between the two Fronts could well be disproved in 2006, when elections are due to the State Legislative Assembly.

As the Left gets increasingly left out of business in Kerala, it needs to re-examine its priorities.

Are they going to be centred around the crusty mould of agitprop and confrontation? Or will they chase the dream of a resurgent Kerala?

The writer can be contacted at kg@tug.org.in

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