Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): The LDF on Sunday scripted history by winning its second consecutive term in a state where voters don't let the incumbent retain power.
The LDF, the last bastion of the Left politics in India, bagged its second consecutive term after at least 40 years and the man of the moment is Pinarayi Vijayan — the comrade, the captain and the crisis manager.
As the chief minister, life for Pinarayi, fondly known as "iratta chankan” (man with two hearts), was not a bed of roses. During his tenure, the government saw several crises — the cyclone Ockhi in 2017, the Nipah outbreak in 2018, the ravaging floods that threw lives out of gear in 2018 and 2019, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Sabarimala issue and the recent gold smuggling scam, too, seemed to taint his government's image. However, for the crisis manager that he is, Pinarayi not only withered these storms but turned around the allegations in his party's favour. His government's handling of the cyclone and the Nipah outbreak, the welfare measures taken in times of the several crises that marred the state cemented him a place in people's hearts and the poll results are a testimony to it.
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When COVID-19 claimed lakhs of lives across the country, the world took note of Kerala's world-class health services and the government's pro-people policies. When migrant labourers across India felt they were left in the lurch following the first lockdown last year, Kerala promised an advance payment of welfare pensions and free food kits to Public Distribution System (PDS) cardholders. Kerala served as a model for the rest of the country on testing people for COVID-19, tracking people with symptoms and infections, quarantining them and announcing free vaccination to all above 18 years of age.
Contrary to the typical Communist ideology, Pinarayi was always viewed as a pro-industry leader. His nod to the 444-km GAIL pipeline project, the Kochi-Koottanad-Bengaluru-Mangaluru pipeline project, the national highway development, the Edamon-Kochi power highway project and the re-opening of liquor vends showed Pinarayi's inclination towards development while sticking to the party's ideology of social welfare.
Despite all the allegations and accusations raised by the Opposition, the Pinarayi-led Government and the CPM had been reiterating that the Left would win for sure and it did so. When the LDF government set its hopes on its welfare and developmental activities while facing the Assembly elections, the opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) and the BJP made a hue and cry over Sabarimala and clung to personal accusations which surely didn't sell.
Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF has gained a mammoth majority in 11 of the 14 districts in Kerala in a tsunami-like red wave engulfing the UDF and the NDA. In the Malabar region, the Northern districts of Kerala - Kasaragod, Kannur, Kozhikode and Palakkad - the Left seem to have built an iron fortress. Thrissur, Kottayam, and Idukki from the Central part of Kerala also stood by the LDF.
The seats in Thrissur district were swept off by the Left, including Vadakkanchery. Vadakkanchery, which they had lost in 2016, has been regained during this strong Left wave. The Left made a scintillating victory in Alappuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram in South Kerala also. The Congress-led UDF, which was already devastated by the Left’s progress in the civic body polls in December 2020, has been torn up by the roots in the all-engulfing Left ‘Tsunami’ this Assembly election.
