Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday expressed the confidence that the administrative record of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government would sway voters and not the swarm of scandalous election eve lies circulated by the Congress and the BJP.
Mr. Vijayan’s statement seemed to be a riposte to the Opposition’s politically explosive claim that the yet-to-be-revealed sworn statements of gold smuggling case suspect Swapna Suresh and P.S. Sarith held incriminating evidence against at least three persons at the apex of the government.
Oppn. charge
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala and BJP State president K. Surendran, who aired the charges ahead of the first phase of the local body polls on Monday, did not mention any person by name.
Instead, Mr. Chennithala attempted to put the onus on Mr. Vijayan to reveal the identity of the “government higher-up” involved in the racket.
Mr. Surendran said one of the individuals named in the deposition held a “constitutional office”. He alleged VIP had accompanied Swapna on foreign trips and gave cover to her foreign currency smuggling runs from Kerala to UAE and other countries.
Both the leaders said the gold smuggling case and allied scandals would remain on the top of the mind of voters when they set out from the home to exercise their franchise.
People’s experience
Mr. Vijayan said the lies would have no influence on and would vanish like the morning mist on voting day. The people have seen development happen at their doorstep. People had felt confident about the care of the government during the COVID-19 crisis.
Community kitchens served citizens. Free ration and food kits reached their homes. The government cared for the infected. Modernised multi-speciality hospitals and state-of-the-art primary health care centres welcomed them.
The government balanced the revival of production and retail trade without causing an upward spiral in infections. It had earned universal praise for its social security initiatives and developmental activities.
Corruption in UDF
In contrast, the UDF was mired in corruption. Its leaders faced graft charges. At least two MLAs were arrested for conspiracy and fraud. More are under investigation.
The NDA’s hopes of victory would be eclipsed when the first results of the polls start trickling in. Its brand of majoritarian politics had no takers in secular Kerala.
Moreover, the farmer’s agitation, the patently anti-minority Citizenship Amendment Act and allied laws, instances of cow vigilantism, the recent anti-conversion Ordinance that targeted Muslims would cause voters to reject the NDA.
