UNDER a setting sky and crowded by thousands of red flag waving activists on the Shanmughom beach, facing the Arabian sea, in the capital city of Thiruvananthapuram, the month long Nava Kerala March led by CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan  came to an end.  The concluding programme was postponed by a day because of the death of the popular progressive poet ONV Kurup.

After inaugurating the grand culmination programme of the Nava Kerala March, CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury pitched for the Left as the only alternative before the people of Kerala against the BJP and the Congress. He added that the Left government in Kerala will pave the way for the Left Democratic Front in the country. Sitaram Yechury said it is time people in the country broke the style of going from one goal post to the other, of either the BJP or the Congress. The Congress cannot be an alternative to the BJP, as it is their economic policies that led the BJP to coming to power. Unleashing a scathing attack on prime minister Narendra Modi, Sitaram Yechury said the attempt is to convert secular democratic India into a rabidly communal and fascist Hindu Rashtra of the RSS. Intensification of communal polarisation is aimed at diverting and channelising the growing discontent among the people and its failures in various fronts like agriculture. He attacked the Modi government for the tax discounts given to corporates to the tune of Rs 5 lakh crores. A new India can be built by the success of the Left in Kerala, Sitaram Yechury said adding that Kerala should show the way forward. No better Kerala or better India, unless the fascist forces are fought tooth and nail, the sooner better, he pointed out.

Lashing out at chief minister Oommen Chandy, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Pinarayi Vijayan said that Chandy has become a baggage of dirty linen for the Keralites. Referring to the corruption charges, Pinarayi Vijayan said the chief minister has degenerated to the extent that he has become an insult to the state. He also put forward his alternative developmental perspective in various sectors like education, agriculture etc. He stressed for environment-friendly development. ‘We want to save Bharathapuzha. We want to save Alappuzha. We want to protect Sasthamkota lake’, he told. We have to address the issues like rehabilitation of kids with autism and senior citizens who are left alone. The present government has no plan for these hapless people, Pinarayi said. He criticised Vellapally Natesan for his attempts to join hands with the BJP through the BDJS, saying that Sree Narayana Garu followers have rejected Vellapally’s attempts. He alleged conspiracy as the Congress and the BJP may repeat the understanding in 1991 to bring back the Vadakara-Beypore model. (Congress, BJP and the Indian Union Muslim League jointly put candidate against the Left.)Presiding over the well attended public meeting, CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said that people will throw the UDF government into the Arabian Sea. People of the state are fed up with the corruptions of Oommen Chandy government and they are eagerly waiting for a chance to oust them, Kodiyeri said. Speaking on the occasion, S Ramachandran Pillai, Polit Bureau member, said that the CPI(M) will fight to the end for the protection of the people’s interests. Polit Bureau member MA Baby, leader of the opposition, VS Achuthanandan also spoke. Nava Kerala March members MV Govindan Master(manager of the march), KJ Thomas, PK Sainaba, PK Biju, MB Rajesh, A Sampath, Dr KT Jaleel were also present. 

On January 15, Prakash Karat, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) had inaugurated the Nava Kerala March at Uppala, in the northern Kasargode district.  The one month march had gone through the 14 districts and 140 assembly constituencies in the state. A total of 116 public meetings were held.  Each day at least four public meetings were organised and addressed by the march leaders and its members. Around 30 lakh people participated in it directly. Apart from this, thousands of people thronged the ways through which the march passed, for a mere look at the march. Every day, Pinarayi Vijayan and other members of the march had a fruitful meeting with important personalities of the area. Short story writer T  Padmanabhan, poet Balachandran Chullikkad, novelist Benyamin, film personalities like Mukesh, Vijayaraghavan, Kamal, Sibi Malayil, Ashique Abu, Kamal Neerad, playback singer Vijayalakshmi, Kathakali artist Guru Chemancheri Kunhiraman Nair, Kalamandalam Gopi, Kshemawati, sprint queen PT Usha had come forward to greet the march. Throughout the march, Pinarayi Vijayan has been keen to visit the rehabilitation and palliative care units. Even a day before the inauguration of the march, he had visited endosulfan hit areas of Kasargode district and interacted with the victims.  He assured the hundreds of the victims in the villages of Enmakaje, Belloor, Muliyar, Karadukka etc, that if LDF is voted to power in the state, it would accord the priority to speed up ongoing relief and rehabilitation project of endosulfan victims. Pinarayi Vijayan has visited the old age home at Thavannur, ‘Santwanam’ at Perinthalmanna, Navajeevan at Kottayam and enquired about the wellbeing of the inmates.  At Chenganoor, Elizabath Teacher had handedover the documents of 1.08 acre of the land and house to the local ‘Karuna santwana’ a palliative care unit run by the CPI(M).  

Assembly elections are round the corner; the Nava Kerala March has instilled new spirit and vigour in the CPI(M) cadres and its units. It will herald a new chapter in the state politics. Secular, corruption free, developed Kerala – the slogan raised by the march was well received by the people.