It is undeniable that after minorities and Dalits, the state of Kerala and its people have been facing the most contempt and humiliation in the country from the BJP government that has been in power at the Centre for the last 12 years. The union government, bereft any sense of decency or morality, has been suffocating Kerala at every possible opportunity by denying and cutting the state's due allocations, without even showing any humane consideration, and imposing excessive burdens even during natural disasters. There are numerous statements made by the Prime Minister, his conscience keepers, the Home and Finance Ministers, and the Chief Ministers of various states which insult Kerala. The state that is most neglected during every Union Budget is none else. Now, with the Assembly elections just around the corner, the Prime Minister and his party have clearly underlined their approach towards Kerala through the inauguration shows and speeches held on Wednesday, as if to mark the informal start of the election campaign.
The Prime Minister came to Kerala to inaugurate and lay the foundation stone of central projects and for two other programs. Naturally It was expected that at least some consoling assurances would be announced on the long-standing demands raised by the state over the years. But no such announcement was made probably because they were certain that if they uttered amy false promise, as has been done in many other places, Keralites would remember them and hold them to account. What the Centre gives is only a conditional guarantee that if they are voted to rule in Kerala, they would give development. Is it to be understood then that If they are not given the mandate to rule, Kerala will be denied what it deserves and punished with gross discrimination. The Prime Minister, who did not give anything to Kerala, found it fit to praise the fishermen who risked their lives to save Kerala during the floods which submerged the state, and this was at the Dheevara Sabha jubilee meeting and boasted that it was the NDA government that made Kerala ‘Keralam’- this was the sum and substance of that visit, aprt from the traffic restrictions and media commotion that disrupted people’s lives.
The state also witnessed the worthless politics of cutting off the State Public Works Minister P.A. Muhammad Riyas, who is in charge of supervising the same project, from the stage where the National Highway 66 was inaugurated. The lower level leaders of the ruling party at the Centre say that the state has nothing to claim in the development of the national highway. If they are saying this on the strength of information from WhatsApp University, then there is no point in arguing. The state government borrowed and spent Rs 5,500 crore to acquire land for the national highway. And because the Centre included this amount also in Kerala's annual borrowing limit, the state was also denied the opportunity to borrow Rs 5,500 crore. It should not be forgotten that the state government was forced to pay fair compensation as a result of the people of Kerala vigilantly resisting the move to acquire land and develop the highway by paying a pittance or nothing.
But where the state’s minister was kept out, the state president of the ruling party at the Centre stepped onto the stage. It is not surprising that a government that has shown the audacity to keep the country's first citizen, the honorable President, out of the inauguration ceremony of the new Parliament building, which was held with the sceptre raised in the presence of monks, would do this. It was a coincidence that the honorable Kerala High Court raised some questions on a crucial issue on the very day the Prime Minister arrived in Kerala - why the Central Government, which had announced the policy of setting up AIIMS in all states, did not grant it to Kerala and wondered how long will it have to wait further for it? In 2016, that is, exactly ten years ago, the state government had suggested four suitable sites for AIIMS to the Central Government.
But the Centre did not take any favourable steps. The Chief Minister had written to the Centre last year stating that the land at Kinalur in Kozhikode district was in accordance with the standards prescribed by the Centre. But what the Union Health Ministry Joint Secretary Ankita Mishra revealed was that the allocation of AIIMS is based on the policy decision of the Central Government and the Union Cabinet has not yet decided to allocate it to Kerala. Look at the price the government is imposing on the health care of the people of Kerala, which boasts that AIIMS have been allocated to 22 states in the country and 18 of them have started functioning. Even if nothing is granted to the state or announcements made, the people of Kerala will remember the Prime Minister's visit: and they will not forget the fact that he and his party made it clear in broad daylight what their stand will be towards the people of this state.