'The Centre has been neglecting Kerala throughout'

Communism was responsible for a major social change in Kerala. But the image of Kerala outside is not very industry friendly.

It is bourgeois propaganda. They propagate that the workers in Kerala go on strike all the time. This is all bourgeois propaganda. But most strikes are in Bombay and not in Kerala. They cannot tolerate the Communist governments that have come to power, so in order to tarnish the image of Communist governments, they do such things. Reality is different.

I am asking you, don't the Birla have a factory in Mavoor? Tata has a tea factory where 25,000 people work. Somani has a factory in Kottayam. All major industrialists have factories here. Apollo has a tyre factory in Kerala. Is it not profitable? Major industrialists have come to Kerala. But the false propaganda says that Kerala has been completely ignored by industrialists so that more industries won't come to Kerala.

Yes, we have a weakness here, the power shortage. If we can rectify that weakness here, the power shortage. If we can rectify that weakness, we will have industrialists coming to Kerala.

It is alleged that Communism is responsible for Kerala's industrial backwardness.

I told you, it was the image created by some bourgeois papers.

A state rule by a Communist government it West Bengal is most sought after by industrialists. Did you ever ask Jyoti Basu the reasons for his success?

I don't have to ask him, the reason is surplus power. Once like us, there was power shortage there. It is because of the continuous rule of the Communist government, that they have surplus power now. In the same way, because of the decentralisation of power in the panchayats, production also increased tremendously in West Bengal. (It is) in fact the most (productive state) in India.

How could they achieve that? Because they (Communists) have been ruling the state continuously. Here, whatever we started was destroyed by the next government. They destroyed our agricultural plans. We followed the advice of people like Dr M S Swaminathan and our production increased by 150,000 tonnes. The frequent change of governments has proved to be the bane of this state.

Why is it that no government is given a second lease of life by the people of Kerala?

Because of the inefficiencies of the governments.

The industrial development in West Bengal is almost like opening the doors to private parties, that is, like liberalising the economy. Is it not moving away from the paths of Communism and following a liberalised path?

No, it is not like that at all. They work only on the lines of the resolutions passed by our executive and central committees. They have not deviated from the path of Communism at all.

If you have to move slightly away from the ideals that you follow for the development of the state, will you accept such changes?

From our experience, we have found that such changes won't bring about any good for the society. Why did the Congress government fail? Because of their economic policies. The Congress which ruled India for the last 48 years is almost extinct now. If we follow that policy, our fate also would be the same.

Does that mean a liberalised economy is not good for the society, according to you?

No, no. Liberalisation, privatisation; all are wrong policies. Narasimha Rao's government proved it in the last five years. Above all, they were the most corrupt too.

P Chidambaram's Budget also is an extension of Manmohan Singh's policies, isn't it so? And, he belong to the United Front government.

That is why we opposed half of it. We accept half of it, but oppose the rest. We do not support it fully. Chidambaram has not left the liberalisation policies.

What, according to you, are the incorrect aspects that you, a Communist see in his Budget?

Share scams. Selling of shares by private people. By selling shares, the public sector is inching towards being privatised. They collect more tax from people. They increased the price of petrol, diesel, etc. it is all because of the bad aspects of the Budget.

When public sector organisations were started, it might have been with the intention of helping the working class in a socialist way, but most of the public sector undertakings became sick. What could be the reason?

Because of the deficiencies in the management, of course. There is nothing wrong with the concept of public sector undertakings..... Let's stop here. I am very tired....