Thiruvananthapuram: The CPI and CPI(M) were able to resolve the PM-SHRI controversy amicably within days, though it created a perception of a split in the Left Front, CPI’s Kerala secretary Binoy Viswam said in an interview with ThePrint.
Nearly a week after Kerala’s LDF (Left Democratic Front) government decided to freeze the scheme over protests by ally CPI, Viswam said the issue was important for the party because it concerned a great cause: state rights, over-centralisation, communalisation and the commercialisation of education.
He said both the CPI and CPI(M), however, resolved their differences through dialogue and ideological clarity.
“Many people predicted that the LDF was shattered to pieces. Many dreamt of that. But we were clear from the very beginning that the Left should take up the issue as the Left. With that clarity of vision, we took it up and solved it through dialogue, a positive and practical solution,” he told ThePrint.
Launched in September 2022, the Pradhan Mantri Schools for Rising India (PM-SHRI) scheme aims to improve the infrastructure and quality of education, with the National Education Policy (NEP) as its focus. The NEP has been vehemently opposed by the Left which alleges that it leads to saffronisation of the education sector. The scheme is also under protest in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
While the scheme was initially opposed by the LDF, Kerala’s education minister announced the state’s decision to sign an MoU with the Centre to join the PM-SHRI scheme on 19 October. The government said it hoped to secure Rs 1,400 crore in Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) funds that had been withheld by the Centre due to the state’s refusal to join the scheme.
The decision, however, was taken without consulting the CPI, which led to opposition from the party after the announcement. After a week-long stalemate, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced on 29 October that the implementation of the scheme would be halted. The state also decided to form a cabinet sub-committee to review the matter.
“It took only a few days, not a few weeks. Because we have ideological clarity on the issues,” Viswam said.
He reiterated that the government’s decision to halt the scheme was not a victory for the CPI alone, but for the ideology and politics of the Left and the people. He said differences of opinion between the two parties are natural, but are always resolved through debate.
“Sometimes life takes us to struggles. Those struggles are natural. But even in such times, we are clear that this unity should not be broken,” he asserted, adding that the Left remains the hope of the country in fighting the “divisive forces of the RSS and BJP”.
According to Viswam, the INDIA opposition bloc was a crucial and timely step in that fight, though it has shortcomings, mainly due to some parties, including the Congress, prioritising partisan interests over collective goals.
“We expect more from the Congress politically and ideologically. It is a party with a Gandhi-Nehru legacy, and such a party has a role to play in this,” he said.
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‘Confident of LDF return’
A long-term ally of the CPI(M) and the second-largest constituent of the ruling LDF, the CPI has four ministers and 17 MLAs in the 140-member Kerala Assembly.
Viswam expressed confidence that the LDF would return to power in the 2026 assembly polls, though he admitted that more work was needed to ensure an unquestionable victory.
“It is a model for the country. We won’t say everything is perfect, but among all governments in India today, this Left government stands apart,” he told ThePrint, adding that the state had managed to roll out several welfare measures despite financial constraints and discriminatory treatment from the Centre.
He said both the BJP and Congress often join hands against the Left, and that the BJP cannot be dismissed as a negligible force in Kerala.
Viswam, who was first elected as CPI state secretary in 2023 and re-elected this year, also acknowledged that the party’s state conference held in Alappuzha in September had seen criticism of both the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government and his own leadership.
“Criticism was there, on the government’s policies and on the party leadership, including mine. But our conferences allow cadres to be critical. In that way, our conferences are democratic. And I must say, the CPI is the only party upholding true democracy, our comrades are guaranteed 100 percent freedom to be critical and self-critical,” he said.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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