Will ‘apolitical’ Twenty20 toss up a winner in Kerala’s political landscape?

Twenty20, a path-breaking, corporate-backed ‘apolitical party’ associated with the diversified Kitex Group, hopes to replicate its impressive performance in the recent civic body polls in Ernakulam districton April 6, and has put up candidates in eight constituencies in the district.

These candidates in the Muvattupuzha, Kothamangalam, Perumbavoor, Kunnathunadu, Thrikkakkara, Ernakulam, Kochi and Vypeen seats are far from being the run-of-the-mill politicians found on campaign trail. They are persons of repute, ranging from accomplished professionals to successful entrepreneurs.

The contestants

For instance, Chithra Sukumaran, who is contesting from Perumbavoor is a business woman; Shiny Antonry from Kochi is a fitness trainer; Terry Thomas, who is contesting from Thrikakkara is a dentist; and Leslie Pallath is a retired professor.

The party is hoping to win the Kunnathunad constituency. And this is not without reason either. All four grama panchayats, where it rose to power in the recently concluded local body polls, fall under the Kunnathunad Assembly seat, points out a spokesperson for Twenty20.

Originally a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) wing of the Kitex group, Twenty20 was formed ahead of the 2015 local body elections with the objective of all-round development of Kizhakkambalam panchayat, its headquarters. It was advertised as an alternative to the disillusioned electorate “who have had enough of the bipolar political system made worse by an inefficient and irresponsible bureaucracy”.

Welfare programmes

Since then, it has taken the lead with a variety of welfare programmes, including the supply of drinking water to the residents of Kizhakkambalam, distribution of seeds and agricultural equipment, setting up places of worship, building and refurbishing of houses, sponsoring surgeries and weddings, providing education assistance, maintaining public roads, ensuring food security, and provision of public utilities.

Speaking to BusinessLine , Sabu M Jacob, Managing Director, Kitex Group, said the feedback received from house visits as part of campaigning is “highly positive with an aspirational electorate yearning for a change”.

“Mass or class, they say they have had limited choices to vote due to lack of alternatives. This is the feedback from the ground, but mainstream parties couldn’t care less,” he said.

Jacob says he had in several interactions indicated that the party was founded with the objective of “giving back to the society”. His late father, MC Jacob, founder and chairman of AnnaKitex, one of the largest private employers in the State, had wished that an industry must be willing to share its success with the people living in the neighbourhood.

Guiding principle

This was the guiding principle of Twenty20 when it was floated as an apolitical party. Jacob says it was the continued reluctance of political parties to channel resources for developing the region with modern amenities that prompted him to go ahead with the plan. The rest is Kizhakkambalam’s history.

In 2015, Twenty20 won as many as 17 out of the 19 seats up for grabs in the panchayat. Five years later, in 2020, it had managed to extend its presence to the neighbouring panchayats of Aikkaranadu, Mazhuvannoor and Kunnathunadu. It has a strong presence in Vengola panchayat, too. This spirit of success provides the raison d’etre for trying its luck with the State’s Legislative Assembly.

Faces criticism

But Twenty20 has run into criticism from mainstream politicians of the hard-boiled variety who fear this is a wake-up call for them. No wonder, Twenty20 has been time and again brought to public scrutiny for more reasons than one. Some have voiced their concern about the manner in which CSR funds have been put to use.

There are also fears over corporates gaining control in local bodies, particularly given the context of panchayats being the licensing authorities and granting permission to factories and manufacturing units. Critics also aver that concessions offered on goods sold from the Twenty20 supermarket at Kizkakkambalam, a run-away hit, is limited to its members only and not for the entire people in the panchayat.

G Gopakumar, noted political observer and former Vice-Chancellor of the Central University, Kasaragod, said it is the non-performance of mainstream political coalitions that has led to the rise of Twenty20. But he suspects that it may fail to find traction beyond one or two elections once the novelty factor recedes.

Such experiments become popular in the overall context of poor governance levels and rising corruption. Ideally, public policy debate should have dominated the electoral discourse and reflected as such in the party manifestos. All political fronts must clearly tell the electorate why it should vote for each, and not the other.

Populist policies have their own limits, as is amply on show from states such as Tamil Nadu. “Actually, Kerala has a strong middle class cutting across castes and religion. Only 10 per cent or so is afflicted with deep poverty. Still, everybody prefers freebies. Unfortunately, this restricts the scope and utility of good governance,” said Gopakumar.

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