A constant search

There is something about an election eve. The flag-waving and slogan-shouting on the streets reach an apogee. All the signs and symptoms of infighting get a decent,temporary burial. But it is not just that. It marks that quiet moment in democracy when political parties sense they have to vacate their noisome rallies,for the centrestage to be occupied by long queues of people waiting for their tryst with the ballot. 

In Kerala,as campaigning winds down for the April 13 polls,there is no sense of history that seems to highlight the West Bengal elections. The sops trail and dynastic politics that hang over Tamil Nadu have no place here. Indeed,what is remarkable about this Kerala election eve is how unremarkable it has become,devoid as it is suddenly of the drama and the highfalutin discourse that animated the Left reign,no small thanks to the no-holds-barred rivalry between Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and the CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan. In the process,instead of a VS vs PV fight,it has become a closer contest between the CPM-led Left Democratic Front and the Congress-led United Democratic Front than what the political pundits would have wagered even two months ago. The CPM has implausibly united under the leadership of VS to fight the assembly election,with every party candidate prominently projecting VS in posters and propaganda. If the comrades share their Bengali brethrens apprehensions of an apocalypse,then they are not showing it. But that could be just political poker face. The United Democratic Front has pitched the development agenda and pointed to the Lefts crucial failings. While the Left has scored points on the social sector,the state is lagging behind its neighbours in indices like investment and infrastructure. And while the octogenarian chief minister can very well galvanise the Red cadre,he and his ideologies could seem rather time-worn to the young voters who could eventually decide the politics of the state in the next five years.

While the UDF has not exactly set its campaign alight with a new agenda,the debilitating politics and economics of the LDF could lead to history repeating itself in Kerala: one front making way for the other,in the states continuous,desperate search for something different,someone better.