Southern stirrings

The job of governing a state can concentrate the mind wonderfully. Notice the sudden awakening in Thiruvananthapuram. Kerala’s Left parties may have attacked the earlier government when it wanted to declare IT an essential service but now that they are in power, it is a different story. The Left government in the state, presided over by old Marxist warhorse V.S. Achuthanandan, is planning to declare the two sectors perceived as vital to Kerala’s economy — IT and tourism — as strike-free. About time too. An overly militant brand of trade-unionism has not only destroyed Kerala’s manufacturing base, it has greatly dampened investment prospects. Now those who once manned the picket lines are learning to man the bottomlines.

If one 80-plus CM was stirring, can another be left behind? Tamil Nadu’s M. Karunanidhi is not known to be corporate friendly, but there he was with nephew and Union IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran in tow, visiting the Infosys campus in Bangalore. Tamil Nadu was able and willing to do a Karnataka in terms of info-tech was his message. And it went home. Infosys has promptly committed itself to investing a tidy sum in expanding its Chennai operations. Dare we say the dividends of reform has now become the common sense of the times, at least south of the Vindhyas?

The expectations of increasingly aware electorates may also have something to do with this on-going transformation. There is a concerted pressure on those in power to generate jobs, create infrastructure and expand social choices. A pity then that those in opposition perceive it as politically opportune to take obstructionist positions. TDP’s Chandrababu Naidu, for instance, has turned full circle and has today joined the Left parties in his state in mouthing retrogressive platitudes. He now argues for unsustainable subsidies to farmers and rides bicycles to protest what is a valid hike in fuel prices. Opportunism is the name of this game but it does the credibility of such politicians little good.