From 50 Years Ago: Kerala: CPI(M)’s Miscalculations

Kerala: CPI(M)’s Miscalculations

The CPI(M) in Kerala has again been made aware that there are limits to the success of policies based almost entirely on exploiting differences among the parties constituting the ruling coalition. It did appear at one stage that the party might be able to pose a fairly serious threat to the government with the agitations over, first, the demand of the teachers in private colleges for payment of salaries directly by the government; second, the state government non-gazetted officers’ demand for withdrawal of orders which they felt interfered with their trade union rights; and, third, the raising of passenger fares by the government-owned state transport services. The CPI(M) had hoped to build up the momentum of the agitations on these issues so as to make possible an impressive Kerala ‘bundh’ on November 10. The party’s calculations about the support it was likely to get from other quarters, however, went wrong and when the date for the ‘bundh’ arrived, it was left with only the weakest of the three issues, the bus fare increase.