Kerala’s new financial adviser: Questions in CPM over Pinarayi’s Harvard pick Gita Gopinath

According to a senior CPM leader, Gopinath’s approach and opinions are directly opposite to the party line on many crucial economic issues.

“So, we are surprised at this decision. Who recommended her name and why a CPM government that opposes the neoliberal policies at the Centre hires a celebrated neoliberal market economist, especially the one who is a member of the economic advisory panel of Federal Reserve Bank of New York?” he asked.

Gopinath had done her PhD from the Princeton University under the guidance of Ben Bernanke, former chairman of the Federal Reserve and Kenneth Rogoff, a former director of research at the IMF.

Questioning the CM’s office over such appointments, another leader said: “All non-official appointments are supposed to be decided politically at a time when we need extraordinary Left-alternate models to face the challenges.” The leader added that the party shouldn’t forget the “impact of aggressive industrial policies in West Bengal that led to the Nandigram incident and destroyed the party itself”.

“She is one of the finest Indian economists in Harvard. Her projects on financial flaws in Europe have been widely discussed. But she belongs to a school of thought that considers financial sector as the real backbone of the economy…She had even made suggestions recently for India to implement privatisation of public sector enterprises for a ‘transformative growth’. Even if the Left line has its own challenges in an Indian system, the impact of ideas such as freeing up of markets or financialisation may be drastic,” he said.

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While many party leaders seemed either confused or clueless about Gopinath’s appointment, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said it was the state government decision. “The Kerala party will answer if needed,” he said.

CPM Politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai said the party was yet to discuss Gopinath’s appointment. “I was not aware of this appointment. I do not know what exactly are the reasons for this decision. We have noticed various opinions and criticism surrounding her appointment. Maybe the intention was to get a diverse opinion about potential foreign economies. We will be asking the Kerala party on why this appointment was made,” he said.

CM Vijayan, however, is convinced that she is the right choice. Talking to The Indian Express, he said Gopinath is a world renowned economist from Kerala. “Her knowledge and experience may be useful for Kerala in many aspects,” he said. When asked about the possible conflict with party line, he said: “Economic experts might have different opinions and answers to problems. For us, she is one of the leading world economists with roots in Kerala. What is wrong in asking her views and opinions on world economy and make use of whatever we want? As long as our stand is clear, there is no need for a worry on any departure from the party line,” he said.

Asked that who suggested her name, the CM added that her international credentials and roots in Kerala’s Kannur invited his attention.

“Her father T V Gopinath is a farmer and entrepreneur in Mysore with interests in organic farming and waste handling methods,” said Vijayan.

Gopinath is married to Iqbal Dhaliwal, an IAS topper who now works as the global head of policy at MIT’s Poverty Action Lab.

Interestingly, the appointment of Gopinath has come at a time when party’s trade union wing, CITU, is preparing for a series of nationwide protests and a bandh on September 2 to protest Centre’s “unilateral labour reforms and anti-worker policies”.

CITU president A K Padmanabhan said: “I don’t know about her capacities as an economist in Indian contexts. Whoever be the adviser, I can tell you that a CPM government will always be guided by the party line and economic-political stands we have declared.”

Meanwhile, Suresh Babu, a professor of Economics at IIT-Madras, said the appointment may be part of a highly optimistic view of CM Vijayan to change the entire economy.

“We need to wait and see the outcome of such over optimism,” he said.

Noted economist K N Harilal of the Centre for Development Studies said the government may be looking for different opinions on policies. “Economists and planning board heads like K N Raj or I S Gulati were also not Marxists. I can’t figure out what exactly does this appointment mean ,since she hasn’t done much here,” he said.