Resolution to Salute the Achievements of the Left Democratic Front Government in Kerala

Saturday, April 9, 2022

RESOLUTION

(Adopted by the 23rd Congress on April 9, 2022)

Salute the Achievements of the Left Democratic Front Government in Kerala

The 23rd Congress of the CPI(M) salutes the historic and path-breaking achievements of the Left Democratic Front Government led by the CPI(M), which has been in office Kerala since 2016. It salutes the Kerala State Committee of the CPI(M) for the political guidance it has given the Government, and the people of Kerala for their support to, and participation in, the initiatives and successes of the Government.

In Kerala in 2016, the new Government was handed a difficult legacy by the preceding United Democratic Front (UDF) Government: a depleted exchequer, negative rates of growth in agriculture (and more particularly in crop production), stagnation in industry, and a slowdown of employment. Corruption was the distinguishing feature of the UDF Government, people’s struggles were met with ruthless responses by the Government, and communalism was making new inroads into the polity.

When the Left Democratic Front came to office in 2016, it decided, against the trend at the centre and in other States, to continue the process of economic planning. The Government decided that while deepening and extending its achievements in human development, it would use these achievements as a foundation on which to create new employment opportunities for the people, particularly youth, to increase incomes from production in agriculture, industry, and income-bearing services, and to build infrastructure.

Over the period of the 2016-21 LDF Government, the Government faced challenge after challenge. There were extreme weather events: cyclone Ockhi in 2017, and extreme rainfall events followed by floods and mudslides in 2018 and 2019. There was an outbreak of Nipah virus disease in two districts of the State in 2018. There were new stresses on the State economy caused by demonetisation in 2016 and the introduction of GST in 2017. And in Kerala as elsewhere, the crisis associated with the Covid-19 pandemic has unsettled the economy as never before. Centre-State financial relations have worsened, with States facing an increasingly adverse position in the allocation of funds.

Despite the multiple challenges that the LDF Government has had to confront, there have been short-term, medium-term, and long-term structural gains in different spheres of the economy. There have been the most sweeping changes in decades in public schooling, a hugely successful housing scheme for the poor, great changes in health facilities with regard to public access and quality, a transformation in major physical infrastructure, a new policy direction in industry and information technology, a deepening of participatory local government, renewed thrust to livelihoods and job creation, a revival in agriculture and allied activities, and an enhancement of social protection and gender empowerment measures. All of these have been achieved in the face of the concerted opposition of the Congress-led UDF and the BJP.

The LDF Government and people of Kerala showed great resilience in the midst of crises and always kept people at the centre of its policy decisions.The people-oriented policies of the LDF Government during the time of the floods and during the pandemic won it praise from all parts of the country and the world. These policies of development and response to crisis were formulated by the LDF Government under the leadership of ComradePinarayi Vijayan.

Thanks to its historic record of achievement, the LDF Government led by the CPI(M) was re-elected to an unprecedented second term of office.This Congress notes that the re-election of the Government has opened up great possibilities for the Party and movement.

Despite functioning within the limits set by thebourgeois-landlord regime in India, the Left Democratic Front Government in Kerala is one among the Left governments in the world that is striving to implement alternative policies in the interests of the working people.

As the Resolution accepted by the Kerala State Conference of the CPI(M) notes, the“previous Left Democratic Front Government laid the foundation for building a New Kerala, with its own place in a modern world.The objective of the Party in Keralais to build on this foundation in order to take society in Kerala to a qualitatively higher stage. . . [and] to utilise the knowledge gained in science and technology and advancements in social spheres to strengthen the productive forces in order to increase production and productivity.”The Congress notes with appreciation the efforts of the LDF Government to present India and the world a secular, democratic, socially inclusive, and high-growth alternative development policy.

The strength of the Party and movement in Kerala, and of the LDF Government, strengthens the Party and Left movements all over India.

The 23rdCongress pledges the support of the entire Party to the people and the Party in Kerala in their struggle to grow from strength to strength in the service of the cause of the Left and Communist movements in Kerala, in India, and the world.

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