Well, well, poor comrades aiming at transparency? Where? I can only see
comrades trying to convince others that a 99-year lease isn't as bad as
outright sale, or that the strengthening of the state's arm (the three
Suresh Gopis of Munnar) is 'people's politics'.
In fact I don't see any democratic politics at all. Contrast it with the
land reforms: there was a movement there at the forefront overseeing the
process. Here the bureaucracy has become the hero! Given the context of the
Smart City deal, the Munnar evictions seem to be the clearing -off of local
capital to make way for some 'global giant'. Of course, the latter can
afford to shoulder the cost of protecting the forests -- as it is the
forests that keep up Munnar's value -- while the former can do it only with
the support and direction of the state! That the state was always simply
unwilling to take that role was crystal-clear! Of course large-scale
capital can develop Munnar in an eco-friendly way and in ways that may be
profitable to the state -- except that it will become an utterly exclusive
enclave of the global elite. The denizens of Smart City can cool off at
'New Munnar'!
Indeed, the 1990s was the decade of liberalisation in Kerala. 2000-2010
looks like the neo-liberal decade. The two features of governance necessary
for the advent of neoliberal capital are shaping up beautifully: one, the
strengthening of the bureaucracy, and two, the unquestioned control of the
state over the resource of greatest value to expanding capital -- real
estate. Kerala, of course, is a tropical paradise and in global terms the
land here is perhaps among the most valuable in the world.
The only we we mortals have of understanding the present and judging what
may shape up in the future is to peer hard into the past. Pity our CPM
friends have learned no lessons. We've had 99-year-leases in Kerala's
history, all made between unequal partners. It made colonial burdens no
less difficult! Yet they exult that sale has been turned into lease! People
who swear by history, wish they made better use of it.
Achutanandan may think that he's scoring a point against Tata Tea through
the Munnar evictions. Having been a student of history I can well believe
that he thinks that he's leading a radical crusade and that's he's scored a
minor victory against global capital. But having studied history, I can
also see how he could well be the Trojan Horse of global capital in Kerala!
Devika
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