The 'formula' is to institute a judicial enquiry into the Solar Scam (see previous post) under a sitting judge of the Kerala high court. To be fair, before the blockade began Chandy had offered to order a judicial enquiry after the on-going police investigations were concluded. At that time the offer was refused by Pinarayi & Co. on the ground that without Chandy's resignation a judicial enquiry was an empty gesture. The irony is that suddenly what was described as an empty gesture by the CPI-M has become a magic wand that will unlock the mystery of the solar scam, and a judicial enquiry without the conclusion of the police investigations has become acceptable to Chandy.
The all round change of heart has been caused some surprise within the media, though this development was inevitable: after all, has any chief minister relinquished office because a large crowd of people asks him to? This was the prime slogan of the Left Democratic Front and it had the strong and unappealing flavour of an ultimatum, and ultimatums rarely work except in a revolutionary situation. Despite all the red flags (and caps!) Kerala is far from such a situation; the only revolution here is an on-going consumerist revolution.
Therefore the real question is why did the chief protagonists in the Blockade Drama take extreme positions for so long and then abandon them without any qualms soon after the show hit the road? The answer lies in inner party dynamics. The chief protagonists in this drama have one thing in common: both Chief Minister Oomen Chandy and CPI-M State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan have more enemies within their respective parties and among their allies than outside. The Blockade Drama has put both of them centre-stage, making Chandy appear as a resolute leader and allowing Pinarayi to showcase his organisational skills. Between the two this innings goes to Chandy who has managed to silence his critics within his party and its allies. This means that Pinarayi will be on the offensive when the terms of reference of the judicial enquiry are decided. In short, the truce is temporary.
The spotlight on the Blockade has pushed into darkness two key issues highlighted by the Solar Scam. One, why should ministers (who are part of the Executive) have non-governmental people working in their office as personal staff, when a search in the personnel database at the Secretariat could easily have yielded thousands of eligible candidates for the job that a Joppen (an accused who was working on Chandy's office) was supposed to be doing, unless of course it is the kind of job that requires a really 'personal' touch! But to be fair to Chandy the politicisation of the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) pre-dates his arrival on the political scene and he is only guilty of carrying on a practice embraced by all political parties in the past. It is precisely for this reason that not one party has questioned the propriety of party members being inducted into the CMO. Perhaps the judicial enquiry could lay down some ground rules on this subject even though they may never be implemented.
The second issue which no one seems to be concerned about is why those who fall for such scams are called 'businessmen' by the media and politicians. They seem to have forgotten the old saying: A fool and his money are soon parted.
Pity the land where such people are called businessmen.
