In a first, Pinarayi Vijayan starts month-long Cabinet-on-Wheels tour across Kerala

The government says the yatra will take the message of its “achievements” to the people, and explain how it has kept afloat despite the “stifling financial policies” of the BJP government at the Centre.

The Opposition has alleged that the yatra, being undertaken at the state exchequer’s expense ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, is “politically motivated”.

In Kerala, leaders of both the CPI(M) and the Congress are used to conducting state-wide political yatras ahead of elections, to test the battle-readiness of cadres and party machinery. But Vijayan’s Cabinet-on-Wheels is different. For the first time, the state machinery, led by the chief secretary, is going to keep the Cabinet on the move.

Across Kerala, the state government has started organising events and making arrangements for the event. Flash mobs, marathons, football contests, yoga shows and meetings of entrepreneurs have been planned along the way.

There is a mix of politics and governance in the “Nava Kerala Sadas” schedule. Government officials will hear complaints from the public at multiple counters that will be set up wherever the “sadas” pitches tent. All complaints will be registered, progress updated in two weeks and relief to registered complaints provided within 45 days, officials said.

While local officers will hear complaints from the public, Vijayan and his team will interact with select people — leaders of various religious groups, businessmen and other influential individuals.

Such interactions, expected to take place every day of the yatra, are mainly aimed at improving the Left’s links with locally influential people.

That apart, at public meetings — likely 3-4 a day — Vijayan and his colleagues will highlight the achievements of the LDF government over the last seven years, apart from making commentary on national issues that are expected to target the BJP and the Congress.

Addressing the inaugural ‘sadas’ at Paivalike in Kasaragod, where the Muslim community is numerically significant, Vijayan set the tone of the yatra. Referring to the Gaza conflict, he alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is backing Israel in its massacre of Palestinians. “Because, Zionists and BJP share common threads of thought. The Congress and the BJP have always succumbed to America’s imperialistic agenda,” he charged.

Vijayan said the “sadas” is a government programme. “There are forces that want to cover up the progress the state has made under the LDF regime,” he said.

The Congress-led Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) has decided to boycott the yatra. UDF legislators will keep away from the event in their respective Assembly constituencies. Several UDF-ruled local bodies have decided not to cough up finances for the event.

Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly, V D Satheesan of the Congress, said, “What issues will this Nava Kerala Sadas consider, when the state is facing a grave financial crisis and people are in deep trouble? Welfare pension has not been paid for 52 lakh beneficiaries in the last four months. Farmers are in debt due to the state’s procurement policy. This is a luxury tour.”

When Congress CM Oommen Chandy had conducted a similar mass contact programme in 2013 by hearing complaints directly from the public, not only had the CPI(M) boycotted it, but also protested the event. Vijayan, the then CPI(M) state secretary, had said Chandy was doing the job of a village officer.

Satheesan said Vijayan should apologise for having insulted the mass contact programme of the deceased Congress leader in 2013. “Chandy had heard the people’s grievances for hours, standing among them. People will evaluate Vijayan’s yatra against that,” he said.