Unfazed by the backlash created by his comment that the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) should not be allowed to return for a third time, poet and Kerala Sahitya Akademi president K Satchidanandan has said that he stands by what he said. Supporters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led LDF which has been in governance since May 2016, had not taken kindly to his suggestion.
On February 10, a day after his comments sparked a row, Satchidanandan made a statement, quoting Marxist thinker Jacques Ranciere, who "defines his concept of democracy as making the invisible and the unheard heard." He stressed that to make Marxism work today, one had to empower the poor and the minorities, not "please the upper middle class through a mode of development that further impoverishes the poor and further marginalises the already marginalised."
Satchidanan’s statements that the continuous rule of any political front can lead to its destruction, first surfaced in an interview given to Malayala Manorama daily on Sunday, February 8. Later he spoke to several Malayalam channels.
In his interviews, Satchidanandan, a Left sympathiser, said that when there was a continuous rule of any single political front, for term after term, there would be possibilities of them joining with communal or religious groups to sustain power. When a minority is in danger, it was important for non-fascist political fronts to back them, and not to tie up with communal forces, he said. It would be a good lesson for the LDF to sit in the Opposition and be able to strongly criticise those who come to power.
Satchidanandan added that his comments were not directed against a particular front and he would have said the same about the Congress-led United Democratic Front (who are in the Opposition now), if they had been ruling for two terms already. Though he has been a vocal supporter of the INDIA bloc – a union of several political parties – Satchidanandan said that it would not be a good idea for the LDF and the UDF to stand together in Kerala, since it would put the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Opposition. But the two fronts could have had an understanding in the last local body elections, in fielding candidates so that the BJP would not have won so many seats, he said.
Satchidanandan’s comments led to social media criticism, discussion on prime time news debates and reactions from various political leaders. Writer and former member of the Aam Aadmi Party Sarah Joseph echoed similar sentiments. “All ruling fronts need the support of communal and religious forces. They use them to destroy the secular and democratic nature of India. We need a change of rule or they [the LDF] will tie up with anyone to continue the rule. It is good for the ruling front to change hands and sit in the Opposition,” she said.
CPI(M) leader KK Shailaja said that though Satchidanandan is a Left thinker his opinion was not shared by the workers of the party or the Left front. It was important that the Left came back to power so that they could proceed with all the development works they had begun.
Another CPI(M) leader Thomas Isaac asked why one would need elections if the two fronts only had to alternatively rule every term. Democracy, he said, was about the people’s right to vote for whoever they think deserves power.
Labour Minister V Sivankutty said that the LDF had the right to ask for votes because they had done so much welfare work for the people. Kerala is the one state where a Left government can come to power in all of India, and in that situation it is sad to hear someone say that the Left should stay away.