The Communist Party of India (CPI) appears hesitant to fully embrace reconciliation efforts from its ally, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)]. This lingering tension stems from the state government’s ‘unnatural haste’ in endorsing the politically sensitive PM SHRI school education scheme, an agreement with the Central government that reportedly bypassed proper consultation with the Cabinet and the broader Left Democratic Front (LDF) alliance.
In an attempt to clarify the situation, General Education Minister V. Sivankutty, who authorized the contentious Central-State accord, met with CPI State secretary Binoy Viswam at the party’s headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday. Minister Sivankutty later told reporters that their discussions were amicable and helped to clear the air.
However, CPI leader and Civil Supplies Minister G.R. Anil, who accompanied Mr. Sivankutty to the meeting, presented a subtly different view.
Anil stressed that Minister Sivankutty owes the public an explanation for signing an agreement that the Cabinet had previously rejected on two occasions, particularly given its significant political and policy implications. He highlighted that the Minister has yet to provide clarity on why the government rushed to sign the deal without extensive consultations within both the LDF and the Cabinet.
Despite acknowledging the cordial nature of the meeting, Mr. Anil emphasized that personal rapport among leaders should not overshadow critical matters of governance, policy, and political accountability.
The controversy first erupted on Wednesday when Mr. Viswam publicly criticized the government for ‘secretly’ signing the agreement, arguing that this action undermined the Left’s national resistance against the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) perceived attempts to ‘saffronize’ the education system.
Viswam further contended that Kerala had succumbed to the Central government’s incentive, which linked the release of PM SHRI funds to compliance with the ‘RSS-influenced’ New Education Policy (NEP).
An urgent meeting of the CPI’s State Secretariat on Wednesday reportedly concluded that the government should seek legal solutions against the Centre’s imposition of unfair conditions for releasing statutory allocations. They believed this was a more appropriate course of action than ‘prematurely’ entering into a ‘politically compromising’ agreement.
The Secretariat also stipulated that any Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Centre should be signed by the Kerala Governor, not by a bureaucrat. Furthermore, they underscored that the Cabinet must retain the ultimate authority on all policy and financial matters requiring approval from the Finance department.
In response, Mr. Viswam dispatched a formal letter of protest to LDF convener T.P. Ramakrishnan and other allied parties, expressing the CPI’s profound distress over what they viewed as a ‘breach of coalition protocol and the Cabinet’s collective responsibility’.
T.P. Ramakrishnan, the LDF convener, responded by stating that the front would conduct a review of the PM SHRI MoU. He assured that the coalition would address the CPI’s concerns regarding the Central scheme, though a date for this meeting was not specified.