Thiruvananthapuram: Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said Left’s alternative development model was facing serious challenges from the imperialist neo liberal policies. In an article on the eve of Kerala Formation Day, the chief minister said with globalisation and liberalisation tightening its grip over the country, some of the high social-economic-health indicators which the state was always proud of had started sliding. The LDF government was committed to arrest the trend through its policies. Pinarayi said the neo liberal policies were restricting the developing countries from choosing their independent path of development. Efforts were on to impose neo liberal policies by dividing people on communal lines and pitting them against each other. All this was being done to continue with their exploitation.
The chief minister said the Left development model has the potential to face these challenges and move forward. He called upon the people to strengthen the secular democratic fabric. Recalling the role of great social reformers, Pinarayi said the renaissance movement contributed hugely in creating a modern Kerala. The state once described by Swami Vivekananda as lunatic asylum was transformed because of the relentless fight against the varna ashram system.
“While renaissance leader Sree Naryana Guru called for advancement and empowerment through education, the great Ayyankali said no to working on the fields of upper caste who denied education to his community. Naryana Guru, Ayyankali, Sahodaran Ayyappan, Poykayil Appachan and Pandit Karuppan created the fertile ground for sowing the seeds of change,” he said. The chief minister pointed out that Congress Socialist Party and Communist Party carried forward the struggle against exploitation and for a just society.
