THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The second day of the CPM district conference at Parassala here witnessed severe criticism against the second Pinarayi Vijayan government. Several delegates questioned the diktat that party leaders not part of the government should not intervene in the government’s functioning.
CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who fielded the criticisms against the government, said the delegates should not try to compare the performance of ministers in a month-old government with that of ministers who were in the saddle for five years.
A delegate from Parassala questioned the rationale behind calling China a Communist country. “Considering the economic policies that China follows, how can we call it a Communist country? China is the main villain in the climate change crisis. It is a country that builds friendship with the Taliban in Afghanistan,” said the delegate.
While PWD minister Mohamed Riyas received accolades for his proactive functioning style, health, industries and local self-government departments came under severe criticism. One delegate said the health department that continues to win international awards shows scant regard to the public and partymen.
Police came under attack on the second day too for what some delegates said for behaving like a ‘pack of thieves’ and a ‘bunch of insensitive gluttons’. The office of the industries minister is a hangout place of elites, alleged a delegate.
Some leaders in the district faced male chauvinism charges as they were adept at spreading canards against women from ordinary families in the party. At the same time, these leaders are reluctant to send women in their homes to attend party programmes, said a delegate.
Kodiyeri said that he would bring the criticisms to the attention of the concerned ministers. “It’s premature to assess the competency of the second Pinarayi government. Many ministers who performed well in the first Pinarayi government were also novices. If given more time, the ministers of this ministry will also perform well,” he said.
A delegate from Attingal area committee criticized the controversial performance of mega ‘Thiruvathira’ during the district conferences.
Kodiyeri said the presence of pro-RSS-BJP members in the police force was owing to the presence of such organizations and parties in Kerala. Rejecting the claims of some delegates that police were more approachable for CPM leaders when M V Jayarajan was in CM’s office, Kodiyeri said, “You may be feeling so because Jayarajan is a popular leader. In fact, he never intervened in police matters during his term.”
The district conference will come to a close on Sunday with the party state secretary addressing a public meeting in virtual mode. Incumbent district secretary Anavoor Nagappan is likely to continue as the party district secretary for another term.
