CPI(M) slams Centre for impeding Kerala’s development

BJP aspires to dismantle the federation and centralise governance, says party resolution

The CPI(M) State conference on Wednesday said the Centre’s “neglect of and unfairness to” Kerala impeded the State’s development.

In a strongly worded resolution, the CPI(M) also slammed the Centre for infringing on federalism and incrementally whittling down the financial independence and jurisdictional authority of State governments.

The BJP had disregarded the concept of “unity in diversity”, the founding principle of the republic. The BJP aspired to dismantle the federation and centralise governance.

The Centre has banned States from raising loans to fund social welfare programmes. Kerala has resisted the move. It had to strike a delicate fiscal balance between meeting the State’s social welfare commitments and financing its development needs. Hence, Kerala had moved to harness private capital for infrastructure development.

The Centre has thrown a spanner in the works of the development agenda of States. It has banned States from availing loans that amount to more than 3% of the GDP. The Centre had also moved to disband the State’s Treasury Savings Bank.

It unleashed the CAG, Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax department on KIFFB to impede the channelling of funds from global financial markets into funding Kerala's infrastructure development.

The National Highway Authority of India had adopted a similar model for road development.

The Centre played a hide-and-seek game to derail Kerala's ambitious K-Rail (SilverLine) semi-high-speed railway project. Doubling railway lines, a modern signalling system, and straightening curved tracks have lagged for 20 years. The Centre has allowed railway infrastructure in Kerala to rot. Vande Bharat's high-speed trains were likely to bypass Kerala due to its ageing and archaic rail infrastructure.

Central funded projects, including the proposed AIIMS in Kozhikode and railway coach factory in Kanjikode, have eluded Kerala. The Centre was hell-bent on selling the country's critical infrastructure and public sector enterprises to private entities.

For one, the Centre had shot down the Kerala government's bid to prevent the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport from falling into private hands.

The CPI(M) also slammed the Centre's attempt to whittle down the State's share in the divisible tax revenue pool and reluctance to extend States' GST compensation until 2027.