Kerala’s Opposition Leader V.D. Satheesan (file)
| Photo Credit: K. Ragesh

The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition in Kerala has accused the Communist Party of India (CPI) of “capitulating” to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] pressure to permit a private firm to set up a “groundwater depleting and polluting” liquor manufacturing unit in a vast expanse of arable land in the “perennially water-starved” paddy farming district of Palakkad. 

Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said the CPI and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) had “swallowed their legitimate objections” to the plant, which required “unsustainably colossal amounts of water” for daily operations, under CPI(M)‘s duress.

He claimed that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan bulldozed the proposal during Wednesday’s LDF meeting at the CPI’s State headquarters at M.N. Smarakam in Thiruvananthapuram. “The CPI and the RJD surrendered meekly”, he said.

Local resistance

Mr. Satheesan said the UDF would mobilise local resistance against the proposed liquor plant by leveraging Palakkad’s “legacy” of water conservation struggles, including the successful fight against the Coca-Cola plant at Plachimada. 

He said public anger has risen against the government’s move to pipe water from the Malampuzha dam to the liquor factory. “The partially dried-up dam could barely meet Palakkad’s irrigation and drinking water needs”, he added.

Growth claims challenged

Mr. Satheesan challenged the LDF’s narrative about a quantum jump in industrial growth. “For one, the government had amended the law to categorise hotels, hairdressing saloons, beauty parlours, bakeries, hotels and family-rum convenience stores as MSMEs. The move helped the government inflate industrial growth figures”, he said. 

Mr. Satheesan also refuted the government’s “skyrocketing start-up sector growth” claims. “The entity which aided LDF’s propaganda gimmickry by authoring a questionable report claiming a 254% growth in Kerala’s start-up sector is the State-run Start-up Mission’s client”, he added. 

Mr. Satheesan said Kerala’s start-up ecosystem value was dismally low compared to neighbouring States. “Kerala has only one unicorn company, which accounts for 99% of the State’s relatively meagre start-up sector revenue,” he added.

Mr. Satheesan said the government’s claim that Kerala ranked high in the ease of business rankings was a hoax. “There is no such a thing as a credible ease of doing business indicator anywhere in the world,” he added.

‘Tharoor entitled to his opinions’

When asked about Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Shashi Tharoor’s purported endorsement of LDF’s claims, Mr. Satheesan said, “Mr. Tharoor is entitled to his opinions. He is a CWC member and answers to the High Command.” 

Mr. Satheesan rejected the LDF’s invitation to agitate together against the Central government’s move to open the seas off the coast of Kerala to corporate deep-sea mining companies. “The UDF is strong enough to organise the people against the move”, he added.