Pinarayi Vijayan has accused the UDF government of pursuing a neoliberal privatisation agenda with its first budget, alleging it’s a retreat from the Kerala model aimed at handing over public assets to private interests.
Vijayan Accuses UDF of ‘Neoliberal Privatisation Agenda’
Leader of Opposition in the Keralam Assembly and former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday accused the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government of pursuing a neoliberal privatization agenda, alleging that its White Paper and first State Budget mark a retreat from the Keralam model of development and are aimed at handing over public assets and key sectors to private interests.
Participating in the discussion on the State Budget during the 16th Keralam Assembly session, the CPI-M leader said the White Paper and Budget sought to create a misleading narrative while ignoring key financial indicators and the role of the Centre’s policies in Kerala’s fiscal constraints. “The White Paper and the Budget mark a retreat for Keralam. Both documents display an unusual eagerness to project the state as being in a severe economic crisis. However, there is a clear distinction between fiscal stress and an economic crisis, and the UDF government is deliberately blurring that distinction as part of a specific agenda,” Vijayan said.
Rejects Claims on State’s Debt Burden
He rejected the government’s claims regarding the state’s debt burden, asserting that Keralam’s debt-to-GSDP ratio had declined over the past five years. “The White Paper goes to great lengths to portray Kerala as being burdened by unsustainable debt. Kerala’s debt-to-GSDP ratio, which stood at 39 per cent earlier, has actually fallen to 33.6 per cent over the last five years. This fact has been completely concealed in the White Paper,” he said.
Defends Salaries and Pensions
Vijayan also criticised what he described as attempts to portray salaries and pensions as a financial burden on the state. “The White Paper seeks to project salaries and pensions as the major burden on the state’s finances. Such an argument creates the impression that paying employees and pensioners is somehow a crime. These expenditures include salaries and pensions of those working in health, education, public distribution and public transport sectors, which are pillars of Kerala’s development model,” he said.
‘Budget to Hand Over Kerala to Private Capital’
Targeting the UDF government’s economic policies, Vijayan alleged that both the White Paper and the Budget reflected a clear ideological shift towards privatisation. “At this stage, the remedy being proposed by the UDF in the name of addressing Kerala’s financial difficulties is nothing but a full-fledged neoliberal privatisation agenda. The White Paper makes this abundantly clear without leaving any room for doubt,” he said.
The opposition leader further alleged that the government was seeking to open strategic sectors, including ports, airports, healthcare, energy and coastal resources, to private and corporate interests. “The UDF government’s first Budget has been framed along the lines laid out in the White Paper. It is a Budget that seeks to hand over Kerala to private capital,” Vijayan said.
He also criticised proposals such as the Rare Earth and Critical Mineral Corridor, Mission Samudra, the Kerala Maritime Policy and Land Reforms 2.0, claiming they reflected a policy direction aligned with the Centre and favoured corporate interests over public welfare. The remarks come days after Vijayan had described the UDF government’s maiden Budget as a departure from Keralam’s welfare-oriented development model and accused it of prioritising private profiteering over public investment and social justice.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)