Split Festival

#Split #Festival

In the Kerala Congress (M) party, the phrase ‘the party will decide’ makes you laugh as soon as you hear it. The party means only one person, that is, the party chairman. The party chairman is what the party constitution says. Yesterday the chairman was K. M. Mani, today his son Jose K. Mani. 

But while Jose K. Mani is sitting in this chairman’s chair and thinking about whether to open the Pala map or not, on the other hand, there is another person sitting in the ministerial chair and calculating: Roshi Augustine. Roshi Augustine is very happy with the ministerial chair he got due to Jose K. Mani’s defeat. If he wants to continue that, the chairman must lose again. Roshi Augustine calculates that the right constituency for that is Pala

When Roshi announces that the chairman will contest from Pala itself, there are those in the party who interpret it as an astrological prediction to protect his own ministerial position. Jose Mani says that the decision will be taken by the party.  The real question is whether Roshi will agree even if the party takes a decision.

The history of the Kerala Congress is in a geometric pattern: split, grow, split again. Now the great political experiment before Jose K. Mani is to let Roshi go his way with love. If he does so, the party will be relieved, if not, it will suffocate. Then Roshi will come out with a new version of Kerala Congress. Thus, history will repeat itself.

Jose K. Mani can experiment again with his own logo in Pala or other constituencies. It is not the first time in the world that a smoking stick  is being thrown out. Perhaps people will ask, "Is this an election or a grand celebration of the split of the Kerala Congress?" It does not matter.

'K. A. Solaman

Sachithanandan poem

Sachidanandan Poem

The feeling that the time has come when the governance and continuity of Kerala will no longer be decided by the people, but by poets and academy chairmen, is what one gets when listening to K. Sachidanandan's new political poem. The literary charm of this is that he came to realize the great discovery that "fronts should take turns governing" only after both fronts had plunged the state into debt, sent the youth to the airport, and turned universities into protest sites.

To those who have put a public debt of one and a half lakh rupees on the shoulders of each child, without asking who caused all this disaster, and to say the general slogan that we should take turns governing in a democracy becomes a safe and irresponsible stance like a weather report.

What is even more interesting is that this advice is as if we have not seen the 'indi alliance governance culture' created by the two fronts acting like the A-team and the B-team in Kerala.  At a time when the opposition has joined hands with the ruling party, the strike has become a formula, and backdoor appointments have become a public policy, the phrase “If we rule alternately, the country will be saved” is not a poem, but a political comedy. 

Such advice, given by some cultural voices who recognize the direction in which the flow is going and flow with the same flow, is becoming an echo that only resonates on the microphone on the stage without touching the real suffering of the people. The poem of Sachidanandan is not a balm that will cure anyone’s headache here

- K. A. Solaman

Struggle season two

#Struggle Season Two

If this is Kerala University’s “Struggle Season 2”, then the government’s response is the “Silence Season Finale”. When the SFI student organization vandalized the Kerala University Registrar’s Office, the Chief Minister, who is handling the Home Department, was in a state of meditation. The state of the Kerala Police, which is waiting without confronting the protesters until the Governor opens his eyes, is pathetic

One police for Pinarayi, who is handling the Home Department, and another police for the Kerala Governor. Is this a constitutional experiment or is it the title of the handbook in the new curriculum “Two Powers, One Law”?. It would be very appropriate if the brochure of Kerala University, which the government calls the hub of higher education, included pictures of barricades, water cannons and lathis to attract foreign students. 

Where is the Higher Education Minister, who regularly arrives with the Bharatanatyam symbol and a punch thrown in the air when SFI riots start? Is she also in a state of meditation like the Chief Minister?  The minister's indifference during the protests has become an academic experiment. Whose head came up with the theory that if the protests are ignored, they will end on their own?

The government's indifference when a few students caught up in political exuberance hold the university hostage raises the question of whether there is a government here. If the government's policy is to watch everything and not stop any violence, it would be better to put up a sign that Kerala University is not a center of learning, but a permanent center of protest.

-K. A. Solaman

New Innings Plan

#NewInnings #Plan

Not in this year's budget, but in last year's Kerala budget, the government announced a grand scheme called "New Innings" for senior citizens. This scheme was introduced with the lofty aim of including senior citizens in active socio-cultural and health activities. It sounded like the name of a national award-winning film. But nothing happened

The Finance Minister had proudly announced that Rs 5 crore had been allocated for the implementation of the scheme. But after the budget speech ended, it seemed as if the government itself had doubts about whose innings this "New Innings" actually was. No specific benefits such as direct financial assistance or new pensions for senior citizens were clearly announced.

Conceptually, it was known as a welfare and rehabilitation scheme based on the grand philosophy of "active aging". But if you study the history of the Kerala budget, you will understand, some schemes are made not to be implemented, but to be announced as mere ideas.  A clear example of this is the “New Innings”.

According to the information available, neither the guidelines of the scheme nor the working structure through the local self-government institutions have been fully formed. Therefore, ordinary senior citizens have not received any service that can be directly experienced under the name of this scheme. Special health service - no. Employment opportunity - no. Monthly assistance - no. Training programs. no. Entertainment - no. In short, the name “New Innings” is only in the name, the innings have not started.

Now the state of this scheme is like that of a Thirunakkara boat - it is still lying there. Without moving even an inch from the announcement stage, without providing any practical benefit to senior citizens, the “New Innings” is resting peacefully. 

The fate of most of the schemes announced through the budget by the current and .former Finance Ministers is the same: some schemes are not for implementation, but for newsworthiness!

K. A. Solaman

What do the people want?

#What do the people want?

Expressing the desire to become an MLA candidate while still holding the position of MP is an open insult to political decency. 

A fixed term is given to the elected representative of the people to intervene in national-level issues and be the voice of the constituency. The MPs elected from Kerala have a term of three more years. Trying to jump to another position without completing that term in the hope of gaining power is a tendency to insult the will of the people.

It is unfortunate that such moves are based on the calculation that becoming a minister will bring more benefits. When the perception that politics is not about service but profit is strengthened, the values ​​of democracy are trampled on. 

Therefore, the desire of MPs to become MLA candidates should be strongly questioned. Resigning from the MP position first should be an ethical and legal criterion if one wants to contest. Otherwise, allowing the approach of holding both will be opportunistic.

Democracy should never glorify leaders who run for the position of minister without fulfilling the responsibility given to them by the people.  There should be a law in the country that does not allow leaders to contest another election without completing their term of office

The people's desire is clear, Kerala and the country need representatives who will faithfully carry out the assigned duties, not politicians who play by changing positions.

-K. A. Solaman

Sari and Churidar

#Sari and #Churidar

Teachers' attire should be decided based on their work comfort and efficiency. Churidar is more practical and convenient for teachers who have to perform diverse responsibilities such as not only in the classroom but also in lab activities, sports activities, school programs, etc.

It is not appropriate for a civilized society to measure a teacher's qualifications and discipline by the form of the clothes she wears. Respecting the constitutional value that clothing is part of personal freedom, teachers have the right to choose clothes that do not hinder their work and are decent. 

The security guard, on the instructions of the manager of the Kottarakkara Neduvathur Eeshwaravilasam School, did not allow the headmistress to enter the school wearing a churidar. How does a school gatekeeper get more power than the headmistress? Are the school run by goons?  An incident that only Number One Kerala can be proud of!

Not allowing a teacher to enter a school because she was wearing a churidar is an act that questions the freedom and dignity of women. It is the duty of teachers and students to maintain discipline and etiquette in educational institutions; but for managers to impose unnecessary dress codes in the name of that is an abuse of power and arrogance.

It is the responsibility of the government and society to convince all school and college managements who take such unwise decisions of their real responsibility.

K. A. Solaman

Humay dimension

#Human #Dimension 

Sadanandan Master’s act of placing his prosthetic limbs on the table of the Rajya Sabha was not a theatrical stunt but a powerful moral statement. It was a silent yet eloquent reminder of the personal cost of political violence and a testimony to what he claims to have endured in the name of ideology. Parliament is not merely a chamber of procedures; it is also a forum for truth, conscience, and lived experience.

 By showing the nation what he had lost, Master sought to underline the fragility of democracy when intolerance turns into brutality. Such a gesture demands empathy and reflection, not technical hair-splitting. If democracy cannot accommodate the pain of a victim speaking through symbols, then it risks becoming an empty ritual rather than a living moral institution.

John Brittas’s objection, framed narrowly as a “point of order,” came across as insensitive and evasive. Instead of engaging with the substance of Master’s allegation and the larger issue of political violence, he chose to hide behind procedural formalism. This response appeared less like a defense of parliamentary decorum and more like an attempt to silence an uncomfortable narrative. 

Ironically, when disruptions and placards have often been tolerated from opposition benches in the past, invoking rules selectively exposes a troubling double standard. True democratic spirit lies not in suppressing symbolic protest but in confronting painful truths with openness and humility. 

In that sense, Brittas’s reaction diminished the dignity of the House, while Master’s gesture reaffirmed the human dimension of politics.

- K A Solaman

When syllabus is reduced

#When #syllabus is reduced.

When we hear Education Minister Sivankutty's announcement that the syllabus of Class 10 will be reduced by 25 percent, the first thing you think is whether this is an accounting exam.  The content is the same, but the size will be reduced by 25 percent.  We will have to call the mathematician Pythagoras himself again to find out how this is. 

The minister says that the curriculum committee has approved the syllabus reduction;  but when the news comes out that the committee itself was not aware of this, it is natural to doubt whether the education department has become a 'note-taking department'.  When it is certain that a new government and a new minister will come next May, isn't announcing such a long-term change a sign of the minister's mentality of "let me leave a mark before I go"? 

This announcement does not even show the basic sense that the syllabus is being formulated taking into account the national-level structure and coordination with other states. If we listen to the minister's explanation that the syllabus was reduced because the children complained that the syllabus was too much, will we ignore the alphabet if the class first  students say tomorrow that letters are difficult and pictures are enough?  If MBBS students say that anatomy is too long, will we suggest that they only study the heart and ignore lungs.

Education is a matter that should be pursued through scientific planning, not a matter of holding a popularity poll.  If we accept the logic that reducing the syllabus will reduce the difficulty, wouldn't it be a great relief if the exam itself was skipped tomorrow?

Is there no one in the education department who is conscious, this question should be included as a question in the textbook.

-K. A. Solaman