The Fall of the Captain

Vijayan and his daughter - curious nexus

Power rarely falls in a moment. It corrodes first – quietly, almost invisibly – until one day the people withdraw their consent all at once. The latest verdict against Pinarayi Vijayan in Kerala’s Assembly elections is not just an electoral defeat; it is a moral and political repudiation.

Kerala has long prided itself on political literacy, never political idolatry. Yet Vijayan dared to become an idol! Quite strange given the radical Marxist origins of his politics. Vijayan’s first term as Chief Minister went well, probably because the 2018 deluge in Kerala followed by the Covid pandemic kept him too busy to pander to his own ego.

When the state made him chief minister the second time, first of its kind in Kerala, governance soon became inseparable from Vijayan himself. The party receded; the leader expanded.

Campaigns centred not on collective vision but on a single figure: the “Captain.” What was projected as strong leadership slowly ossified into unquestioned authority. Vijayan became to Kerala what Modi was (and still is) to North India.

But Modi’s party managed to win only three seats in Kerala’s Assembly while the Congress came to power sweeping the polls majestically. Kerala doesn’t think like the other states in the country. Vijayan should have known that.

Authority without accountability breeds resentment in a healthy democracy. And Kerala is a healthy democracy, if little else.

However, it wasn’t all about Vijayan’s gargantuan ego. Corruption was aplenty. Scams and scandals, some of which involved Vijayan’s family members too, followed one after the other in the state.

Malayalis are highly politically conscious. They don’t wait for court verdicts to arrive at their own judgments. They perceived clearly that Vijayan’s government looked less like a custodian of public trust and more like a system defending itself. Vijayan was seen by many as nothing less than a scoundrel dressed in a saint’s apparel. That perception proved fatal. In spite of Vijayan holding up his right palm and claiming quite dramatically, “My hands are clean.”

Perhaps, the most decisive shift was not administrative; it was emotional. In administration, Malayalis are used to corruption of all imaginable sorts and now when the Congress comes to power the situation could get even worse.

Vijayan’s government began to appear distant, even dismissive. Vijayan didn’t want people getting close to him. He told journalists to get out many times. He summarily dismissed questions from ordinary people including party-workers. Recently when a party-worker wanted to ask a question, Vijayan told him bluntly and crudely to “go home and ask.”

Kerala loves dialogues and debates. What Vijayan gave were instructions and orders. The kind of hubris that Vijayan displayed towards the end of his term would never be accepted by Malayalis.

Personally, I think the Congress won yesterday not because of its own merit but because of Vijayan’s demerits.