IN a glittering effort to mobilise people for the furtherance of development in Kerala, two marches – ‘Vikasana Munnetta Jatha’ (Taking Forward the Development March) – organised by the LDF has drawn tremendous response from every section of voters. The marches reached out to people in all 140 assembly constituencies and were structured to activate the LDF cadres and sympathisers in the run-up to the assembly elections scheduled for April 6. The northern and southern jathas culminated successfully on January 26 with massive rallies in Thiruvananthapuram and Thrissur. It has proven that people’s trust in the CPI(M)-led LDF government is unbreakable. 

Thousands of people gathered in 140 centres to greet the leaders and members of jathas and hear the message they conveyed. They spoke about the developmental activities of the LDF government during the last five years and its attempt to save the lives of people when floods, cyclones and pandemics hit the state. The northern jatha was led by CPI leader Binoy Viswam and the southern jatha was led by LDF convener and CPI(M) acting secretary A Vijayaraghavan. The beneficiaries of the LDF government’s various projects and welfare schemes attended the public meetings. The leaders of the jathas expressed their gratitude to the people for their immense support.

While expressing solidarity with the LDF government with their presence, a large number of LDF supporters have ridiculed the massive attempt of central agencies and opposition parties to malign the image of the government through bogus cases. While inaugurating the culmination of southern jatha at Nayanar Park in Thiruvananthapuram, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the LDF is always with people and people are always with the LDF. This government has done whatever it promised and will promise whatever it can do. The state does not need a government which shows an insensitive attitude when the people are in trouble. Now the people of Kerala have got an opportunity to judge the LDF government on its performance during the crisis. People have judged it several times. We hope the positive response will continue. We are not worried about the malicious and baseless campaign of the UDF and the BJP and people will not fall into such traps.  

The government is going to approach the people with a brilliant record of fulfilling the promises. The LDF fulfilled 570 promises out of 600 made in the election manifesto. We have achieved the unattainable with the remarkable support of the people of Kerala and they stood united even in the days of calamities. Various huge development projects which were considered as unachievable dreams have materialised during the LDF rule and the rightful inheritors of these projects are the people. Pinarayi requested the opposition not to ridicule the people who stood firm in the entire process of overcoming the crisis. The opposition never supported the pro-people measures taken by this government. Political differences are not uncommon. Pinarayi questioned as to why the Congress opposed the people-friendly steps like the formation of Kerala Bank. The representatives from the Congress-ruled states have been to Kerala to study the operation of Kerala Bank. Opposition leaders are keen to mislead the people who are satisfied with the functioning of the LDF government, he added.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member S Ramachandran Pillai inaugurated a massive rally held in Thekkinkad Ground in Thrissur in connection with the culmination of the northern jatha. Pillai said the people of Kerala will set a record by re-electing the government in a state which has always given alternative chances to both fronts for many decades. The LDF’s impending victory would also pose an alternative for the communal-corporate government at the centre. The LDF government has kept the secular fabric of the society intact and upheld the democratic and civil rights of the people. The state’s progress in the fields of agriculture, industry, health and education is quite evident. The two jathas were successful in educating the people about the developmental endeavors of the LDF government and exposed the opposition’s vicious designs to cover up the achievements through levelling baseless allegations against the government. The country witnesses an unprecedented upsurge of peasants against the corporate-sponsored agriculture laws of the Modi government. The education policy was framed to cater to the demands of the rich. The spiralling fuel prices make the common people’s life miserable and their hardships have been multiplied. The findings of the study of an agency of the United Nations reiterate that India is a republic of hunger as it stands at the 94th position. The central government tries to ignite the communal passions to divert people’s attention, Pillai said.