# Ajayan | Call it coincidence, or call it prophecy - two decades ago, OV Vijayan, frail in health but sharp as ever, picked up his pen after a long hiatus. The result was a scathing cartoon where white ants, feasting on a book titled Ideology, mourned the tragic fate that they alone had to digest it all. Three days after this biting satire graced the cover of a Kerala literary magazine, this writer had the rare fortune of meeting the legendary wordsmith and cartoonist in Kottayam, where he was convalescing. Vijayan, unable to speak, communicated through a small writing pad. Asked about his latest cartoon - his return after an agonizingly long silence due to health issues - he scribbled with quiet finality: “That’s the state of things.”
Fast forward to the CPI(M)’s grand ideological somersault at its Kollam State conference, where years of doctrinal righteousness were left to rot like an outdated manifesto, and OV Vijayan’s white ants suddenly seem less like mere insects and more like an eerie premonition - he saw the cracks forming long before they caved in.
Like born-again reformists, the leadership now thunders from the pulpit, passionately justifying the so-called revolutionary decisions at the state meet. It’s official - development is the new holy scripture for those who once swore to slay capitalism. Unmistakably, the fiery sermons sound suspiciously like the very capitalists they once sought to bury.
Privatization, once the ultimate evil, is now embraced with open arms, especially in education, where young comrades through protests once braved police batons and some fatally succumbed to police firing. Ironically, their leader of today had already secured a private college seat for his daughter outside Kerala at the peak of those agitations, perhaps a subtle trailer for the grand ideological flip-flop to come.
From turning PSUs into private enterprises to preaching market-friendly reforms, the list of reversals is long. And yet, not a whisper of these "progressive" shifts made it into the election manifesto - the same edict the party dutifully brandishes each year like a sacred text to justify its ever-evolving political report card.
The ‘New Pathways to New Kerala’, the grand document unveiled by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the State conference, isn’t just a roadmap for development; it’s a manifesto for the party’s grand neoliberal pivot. Gone is the old-school tradition of taking it to the grassroots for discussion, debate and revisions. Instead, it has been dictated from the top, imposed upon the cadre with unquestionable authority.
And the irony couldn't be richer - a party that once championed the People’s Plan, advocating meticulous, ward-level deliberations on development, has now embraced a bold new model of liberalism - one that requires no consultation, no consensus and certainly no dissent. But the real question remains: Is this truly the will of the people of he State, or just the will of those in power?
Cesses and user fees, once the very symbols of capitalist oppression in the party’s playbook, are now the shiny new mantras of governance. The same party that, until it seized power under Pinarayi for two consecutive terms, vehemently opposed these “anti-people” measures and slammed the Centre for imposing them has now embraced them with open arms. Either way, the revolutionary U-turn or convenient amnesia, the burden once condemned is now on the people to bear.
Gunning for a third term, using any combination possible, the party seems to have found common ground with its once-sworn enemy. After all, a Congress-mukt Bharat isn’t just the BJP’s dream anymore. No wonder then, the CPI(M) has conveniently toned down its rhetoric, now accusing the BJP of mere "neo-fascist tendencies" - a far cry from the outright "fascist" label that the late Sitaram Yechury once thundered. Be it soft-pedaling or survival strategy, the party that once prided itself on ideological rigidity is now more flexible than ever.
People’s issues no longer make it to the party’s priority list. After all, when the rich and neo-rich need catering to, who has time for the struggling masses? The welfare pension hike promised in the manifesto? Forgotten. The ASHA workers, the backbone of grassroots healthcare? Ignored. The paddy farmers awaiting their rightful dues? Left to fend for themselves.
And if anyone dares to protest like the ASHA workers, there’s a special reward - abuse from the party’s own trade union leaders. Nothing screams "pro-people" like crushing the very workers you once claimed to fight for. But does it not owe an apology to the people for earlier stance and violent protests?
Back to OV Vijayan and yet another of his prophetic strokes. After the collapse of three Left governments, the patriarch EMS Namboodiripad is seen proclaiming, "The State has withered away, not once, but thrice." And if the party manages to pull off a third consecutive Pinarayi term, one might just need to tweak the script: "The party has withered away, not once, but thrice."