Baby’s day out causes panic in Kerala!

The Intellectual Taliban struck back and they did so in style! Unable to digest the rising popularity of Narendra Modi and the rising acceptability of the Gujarat model of development the Taliban is back to doing what it does best- shrill arguments, vitriolic statements and ostracism of anyone who engages with Narendra Modi. The latest victim of the attack is Shibu Baby John, Kerala’s Minister for Labour and Employment. When he met Narendra Modi on April 18, little did he know that life would never be the same for him again!

Hardly did the meeting end that shrill voices began to emanate from Kerala against the ‘sacrilege’ he had committed. A person no less than Chief Minister Oommen Chandy sought an explanation from Shibu Baby John! Joining the bandwagon was P Kunhalikutty, more famously known for his involvement in the ice-cream parlour sex scandal, Ramesh Chenithalla, who nurses ambitions of becoming the Chief Minister, Vayalar Ravi, and several other UDF leaders. Even the LDF was not left behind. VS Achutanandan was equally harsh on Shibu Baby John for meeting Modi.

The lone voice of support was that of Aryadan Mohammed, Kerala’s Power and Transport Minister. Aryadan Mohammed, a Congress MLA, is a strong opponent of the Muslim League and had even opposed granting an additional berth to the League some months ago.

The question is: Who are vote-bank politics-practicing politicians to question a sitting Minister from meeting a Chief Minister of a State? For meeting Narendra Modi, Shibu Baby John gets brickbats but when Rehman Malik comes to India, senior Ministers receive him and when Asif Zardari comes, our Prime Minister hosts lunch for him. It clearly does not matter that these same people have the blood of so many Indian soldiers on their hands, including the recent beheading of two Indian soldiers.

Chandy can go out of the way to accommodate Muslim League in his Cabinet but not allow a Minister to meet Narendra Modi. He can tolerate PK Abdu Rabb of the Muslim League changing the name of his official residence from ‘Ganga’ to ‘Grace’ but meeting Modi at his residence is a crime. Likewise, Achutanandan and P Vijayan, an accused in the SNC Lavalin scam, are at ease when interacting with Madani but are severely opposed to anyone meeting Narendra Modi in Gujarat. The outlook of Kerala’s political class smacks of nothing but intolerance, negativity and a clear complex of what lies ahead if the Modi mania further enters the Atate’s vote-bank political culture.

Anyway, the shallow nature of the opposition to Modi was exposed during the case of Abdullakutty, a former Left MP, who committed the sin of praising Modi long before Shibu Baby John. Abdullakutty was forced to resign from the party of the grounds of ‘secularism’ but in a curious turn of events he joined the Congress and is now a UDF MLA. Thus, if one praises Modi from the opposite party he becomes ‘tainted’ but as long as he contributes a seat to the UDF in their wafer thin majority he is alright. What else can one say about this bankrupt mindset?

Narendra Modi himself is in Kerala on the April 24. He will visit the Sivagiri Mutt, which is an important place for the Ezhava community of the State. Modi’s visit to Kerala has already been hailed by the Nair Service Society and the Shree Narayana Dharma Paripalana, who are increasingly getting disappointed with the appeasement politics of the UDF.

The hype around Modi’s visit to Kerala is growing by the hour. The mutt that Modi is visiting is known to work extensively towards the cause of social equality and creating a society that rises above differences of caste or community. In a sense, that is exactly the message Modi has been successfully spreading in Gujarat – development transcends all barriers of caste or creed and that we must create a society based on aspiration for a better life, and not on sectarian divisions fuelled by vote-bank politics. This is the reason why India awaits Modi’s Kerala visit eagerly.

(You can follow Kishore Trivedi on Twitter- @KishoreTrivedi1)

http://www.niticentral.com/2013/04/22/baby%E2%80%99s-day-out-causes-panic-in-kerala-69081.html