Working Under Protest Letter Template: Fill & Download for Free

A common standard template reply often heard from everyone is COMMUNISM and its ill effects.Well, this viewpoint originates primarily from two main accountsHardcore Communist ideals and long term communist rule where party rules and make industries flees with their hardcore attitudesAnti-capital mindset of communist leaders and their utmost belief in old world dogmas.While both cases are true around the world and in states like Bengal or Tripura were CPM was in power for long terms, its radically different in a state like Kerala.Kerala Communism was a byproduct of Kerala Renaissance originated within Hindu communities in 1930s and thus the biggest attitude of Communist movement was to achieve egalitarianism, rather anti-rich etc.Kerala communists itself were hardcore believers in capital entrepreneurship. Check out for the biggest entrepreneur in Kerala. Its communist party or its affiliates or associate bodies. The party owns its own apartments, water theme parks, hospitals, banks, micro finance, small scale industries, Supermarkets and what more, even an IT Park… Kerala communism works more like Chinese way (ofcourse less chances of being autocratic in a democratic society).Kerala CPM could never rule beyond a 5 year term in last 40 years. The power alternates between Congress led UDF and CPM led LDF. Infact Kerala was the first place where Alliance system was established as no single party could establish majority vote. This made CPM aware of its limitations and not go too much power arrogant unlike Bengal.Now back to main question.One part of answer is that, Literacy is not a qualification. Its mere ability to read and write own language. Just because people are literate, it doesn’t translate into jobs.95% of Lakshadweep males are literate which doesn’t make Lakshadweep an economic powerhouse. So as Mizoram.Now the reasons why Kerala not able to generate jobs.White collar employmentThe biggest problem in Kerala is not lack of jobs, rather lack of jobs which an average Malayalee wishes for. With a higher graduation rates, the available jobs in the market doesn’t enthrall anyone. Across India, the biggest employment sector is Agriculture. Whereas in Kerala, the percentage of employment in agriculture is 5.9% as of 2014–2015 data.This means, no more locals are ready to be a farmer, which is definitely an employment choice across many parts of India.As per Kerala State planning Board review, the sector that employs highest number of people is Tertiary sector with nearly 50.4%, followed by Manufacturing sector with 20.4%. Rest into unorganized sector, mostly in service related.Kerala tops in unemployment rates2. Under Reporting and Wrong Statistics.One big problem in Kerala is that, a good number of people in unorganized sector are classified as unemployed. For example a private household driver may earn 9000 Rs per month, but in any records, he would be shown as unemployed as its not an employment backed with legal records. Same way, lot of unskilled labour force are employed in various service sector which are never recorded officially. If one checks, in every private buses that ply across Kerala has an unofficial conductor to issue tickets and help passengers in boarding and deboarding. This position is never reported formally and people who work in this position are likely to identify as unemployed in any government records.One key reason for under-reporting is to ensure their registrations in employment exchanges and other government sponsored employment schemes be valid.As most of Malayalees are literate, they knew the consequences of reporting their unorganized sector employment in any government document. So when officials from NSSO or similar sample surveys question on number of employed hours, most of them would say NIL. This is one serious data collection error thats widespread in Kerala.3. Aspirational levelsPerhaps the biggest issue in creating higher unemployment rates is higher aspirational levels. When an absolute majority of Malayalees pass SSLC (10th Grade/Matriculation) and a very high number completes some form of graduation, their aspirational levels are too high.Many wants good jobs with higher salaries with their average degrees. The fact is that, such aspirational values are common around the world and in India. But to an extend majority people get adjusted to whats offered around, rather roam to find something unusual.Just for example, if someone pass a B.Sc Chemistry from an college in a place, say Gujarat, the first thing the person will look is for a job in Gujarat, probably the main cities like Ahmedabad or Surat etc. He/she may be employed as a Chemist or RD support trainee in some local chemical store or plant say for a salary of Rs 8000. Now this job soon will be considered as permanent and regular by the employee. They trend to believe, this is their future and continue to invest their talents into that firm.Same in Kerala works different. A person with a basic BSC chemistry may be employed in some local chemical store, but his intention won’t be remain there. The intention will be remain for some time to show as experience and get to somewhere where he can earn more than this job. For that, he or she may not upgrade the qualification such, rather look out for places where the profile gets more.This is primary reason why migration widely happens in Kerala, because one gets more pay outside India.4. More Pay.Perhaps many commentators in Quora on this topic who are not from Kerala, blindly believes, its solely because of communism, there is no jobs in Kerala. Well, the fact is bit more different.A person with an average skill set will get more pay, if outside than in India. Just for example, look at the post which Abu Dhabi International Airport posted last dayADIA wants trolley boys, which is just an unskilled job which any school drop out can join. There is no technical qualifications involved. Look at the salary offered.Its 1700 AED + OT, in total creating a total salary of AED 2150. If we convert that to Indian Rupees terms, its INR 38,000, a salary with junior IT professional (Technical qualified engineer) earns after slogging similar hours in front of computer in some major metros of India. Its not just salary component. This 38000 Rs is mostly savings, as they get accommodation, food, medical and transport. So it means, an average atleast 25K can be saved, which you won’t get if working in same position back in Indian airport.In Kerala, we have 3 airports and in all airports we need same trolley boys. We are unable to get a Malayalee trolley boy, while Abu Dhabi may get. The reason is simple, Cochin airport or even Delhi Airport definitely cannot pay 38K for a trolley boy. As a result, we have mostly Bengali or North Indians working as trolley boys in Cochin airport.Most of jobs in ME do get a higher value in Indian terms. For example, a light vehicle driver’s average pay scale would be AED 3500. With OT etc, it comes to an average of 4000 AED which translates to 70K INR something which senior managers would earn in India. Salary of a heavy vehicle drivers starts from AED 5000. Even house maids gets around 800 to 1000 AED which are all definitely two times higher than their normal wages back in India.The higher literacy rates helps an average Malayalee to understand more opportunities elsewhere, which a Rajasthani or Bihari may not able to find out. Ofcourse its changing as more and more Malayalees in current generation have moved to more upper scales like semi skilled or skilled category, leaving unskilled sectors more to other states.5. Respect and valueFor some jobs, there are little respect in our country. Say for examples, Nurses. They are often treated like maids or servants by majority hospitals in our country. Its a technical qualified job, yet our pay structures are too worse for such a dignified profession.Many hospitals may pay a lakh for junior doctors, but refuse to pay even 10K for nurses who are the first point of contact for a patient. Nursing is one major profession, which is grossly underpaid in India.There is a famous dialogue in movie Take OffFor Non Malayalees, Actress Parvathi’s dialogues translates as (We are nicknamed as Angels of God, but no one asks whether there is anything to eat at the Angel’s home)Its a very powerful reply which this nurse character says to Indian Ambassador when asked why you guys ready to take up jobs in a war torn nation like Iraq?While a nurse in war torn Iraq or Libya earns INR 50-80k plus, back in much peaceful, booming economy like India pays an average of INR 4000 to 10k. Recently nurses in Kerala launched massive protests to make their salaries uniform to 20K for experienced nurses and 10k for junior nurses. And many managements aren’t ready for that despite of Supreme court’s order and Kerala govt legislation.Kerala Nurses' End Strike; Government To Ensure Rs 20,000 Minimum SalaryAnd nurses, paramedics forms one of the highest migrants from Kerala. Many move to Delhi or Chennai to get slightly better rates, say Rs 10k+ compared to 7000 Rs back at Kerala which isn’t enough to pay the loans. The intention of most nurses from Kerala is to gain an experience letter and migrate to some country where their job has intense respect and high pay.Not just nurses, there are many professions, say Plumber, Welder, telecom technician where back in India, they are treated in servitude levels and consider as low grade jobs,while in many western countries people take an appointment and wait their services.6. Historical migrationOne key fact is that, across India, migration wasn’t something common or even considered. For Hindus, crossing seas means sin and likely to be an outcaste. For common Muslims who don’t have such, still never traveled long enough other than trading community.This is contrary in Kerala. Historically Kerala had deep relationship with people across the seas rather within India. Arabs where one community that has intense relationship with Keralites and frequently Malayalees used to travel to Arabia via large ships even in ancient periods. There were Malayalee Ambassadors from Zamorin and Kolathiri’s kingdoms in Ottoman Capital, Damascus as well as in Lisbon and Venice even in 16th century. This has brought an intense relationship and passion to travel, which were quite low in other parts of the country (barring TN which had similar relationship with ASEAN countries since historical times due to Chola expedition to these places)So naturally when Arabia required massive labour force at time of Oil boom of 70s, the first set of migrants were Malayalees who were very familiar with Arabs.Prior to that, lot of Malayalees have moved to Burma, Penang and Singapore along with their Tamil brethren, mostly from British Malabar, under influence of British interests. So the migration wasn’t something seen offensive or bad, rather positive by majority. Now the emerging trend is to migrate to Australia, Singapore, European countries in a big way.7. Malayalee ParadoxWell, its one area which rarely discussed even by Malayalees, though majority experience this unique factor. Malayalee community are always known for their paradoxes. While critics call as Hypocrisy, I feel its much more deeper traits to have two conflicting attitudes reared at same time.One paradox of Malayalee pysche can be better termed thro’ Malayalee proverb “Ikkare Nikkumbol Akkare Pacha” (Standing this side makes other side a green pasture).While Malayalees always boast and have high opinions about their homeland, they always admire other places when they stay in home place. They even talk how bad its locally and how great it is in other place. And this aspiration pushes them to go to other place. While in other place, they keep on murmur how great Kerala is.This can be seen best in opening scene of popular Malayalam movie- Bangalore Days when an IT Professional like Krishnan PP (played by Nivin) feels great when he hears his first posting will be in Bangalore. But moment he is in Bangalore, he longs for his village and place.The scene where he accepts Bangalore assignment saying Enthu Malayalee Bangalore venda ennu parayunate? (Which Malayalee will say no to Bangalore?)While throughout the movie later, he keeps whining against Bangalore and upholds how great Kerala is. His dialogue Namma Ooru Mysore alla, Namma Ooru Keralam (Our place is not Mysore, our place is Kerala) is a classic example of this paradox attitude.A lot of qualified IT Professionals prefer to work in Bangalore or Hyderabad, even if similar openings are available in Kerala. Infact a good percentage of Kerala IT’s workforce working in 2 major IT parks of the state are non Keralites. While its vice versa in major cities like Bangalore or Hyderabad where Malayalees form a huge chunk.Its a rare occurrence for many to seek transfer or relocation requests to Kerala even though majority loves Kerala and wants to be at home for every Holidays.The same way for majority other professions, Dubai is always the first choice.8. Good Job vs Bad JobThough its very common Indian trait, still its magnified much in state like Kerala. Most of Malayalees has classified certain jobs as Good and certain as bad, no matter what the pay or other benefits.For example, a job as private bank officer or private Insurance manager would be a bad job as there is no job stability due to lack of concept of permanent job and frequent moving to newer companies exist.Whereas job in Government will always considered be as a good Job, irrespective what level the job is.One of my acquaintance has passed M.Sc, then cleared B.Ed. She was trying to get into Government service for a long time by writing PSC exams. During this time, she was working as a teacher in an unaided private school. Yet she kept on writing and finally got a job as Postwoman in TN Circle. She now works as Postwoman in a smaller town of Palani in TN.On any comparison scale, position of a teacher is much better than Postwoman. But for her, the former is a bad job as its not a permanent job while latter is good job as its permanent and her position as central govt employee.This is a very common trend in Kerala.Now there is a choice between Govt job vs Gulf Job, definitely the latter gets priority as the pay will be huge and higher social position. A gulf employed always enjoy a huge social respect regardless of their position.So most of the people will either aim for a Govt job or Gulf job rather working in Indian private sector.9. Indian vs ForeignerOther big difference is that, Malayalee migrants to other countries mostly preserve their identity as Malayalee, Indian. Partly its because most of migration happened to Gulf states where citizenship is out of question. So they all are Indians, with Indian passports and Indian citizenship.Whereas there are many states in India that has more migrants than Kerala. The most famous being Gujarat which has approx 3 Million plus migrants living out of India, while Kerala has only 1.6 to 2 million approx.In any stats, Gujarat, Punjab will have more NRIs than Keralites. But the sheer difference is that, former sect of people have migrated and became citizens of that country where they migrated. Currently they have only PIO/OCI cards that connects to India. They aren’t full fledged Indian citizens.Whereas Malayalees in majority are Indian citizens and uphold Indian passports. Even those Malayalees who migrated to US or EU in majority have retained their Indian passports while their children became citizens of that country due to Jus soli.This means, technically Indian stats will record every Malayalee as Indian citizen who are out of country for jobs (NRIs), while Gujaratis or Punjabis or Tamilans who are out of country as non Indian citizens. This is one factor that makes people think, Malayalees mostly live outside India.Other factorsWhile many says Kerala has no major industries which form the key reason for people to move out may look true prima facia. But not so true on a deep look. Infact i have discussed this earlier in one of my answer earilerArun Mohan (അരുൺ മോഹൻ)'s answer to Why is Kerala not so developed industrially like Tamil Nadu?So not repeating that again.But indeed the fact is Kerala has an extraordinary large Service sector, but service sectors are not mass employers unlike a manufacturing Industry.Say Tata Automobile Plant in Gujarat employed nearly 2,200 employees, while one of Kerala’s largest Bank- The South Indian bank has only 7.600 employees nation wide. So within Kerala, it should be less than 3000.Again note, service sector are mostly institutions which have multiple branches across the country and their jobs are transferable. For example, Kerala’s largest bank Federal Bank has around 11K employees which in majority are Malayalees. But they work across the nation and outside. While in manufacturing sector, they are most likely to be stayed in one place alone. The transfers would be almost nil.I won’t say communism has no role in this situation. Yes definitely it has some role as many investors don’t consider Kerala as first choice primarily due to sterotypes and certain realities. Yet, its not the prime reason as many thinks so. This thinking process comes mostly from Non Malayalees who haven’t seen much of Kerala’s communist model or local situations.

The word Gruesome makes no sense as BJP wasn’t expecting to sweep Kerala and a vice-versa situation happened.Rather I feel the right word is Pathetic or Poor performance.Its a fact, BJP expectations from Kerala completely dashed and the party still continued to be in the third position BELOW the usual UDF - LDF Politics. But performance wise, they were able to increase their vote share both in percentage terms and absolute terms.BJP increased its vote share from 10.8% in 2014 to 12.9 % in 2019, ie an increase of 2.1% of vote shareIn terms of absolute numbers, BJP increased from 18.5 lakhs to 26 lakhs (partly due to the fact, there was an overall increase of total voter percentage by 4%)However, compared to the progress made by NDA during last assembly elections (state elections) of 2016, it looks like there the vote share has got stagnant. In 2016, NDA Kerala (BJP+BDJS) got a total vote share of 14.98% while the same NDA Kerala got a total vote share of 15.5% only in 2019. In 9 constituencies, there was an actual decline of votes for NDA.The total picture of NDA’s growth in KeralaIt must be understood, in 2014 elections BJP stood alone for contest, while in 2016 Assembly elections and 2019 National elections, they contested as NDA with BDJS as their partner. So as an alliance, they made very little progress from 2016 to 2019.BJP Kerala tried all possible means to open their account in Kerala. They literally moved heaven and earth in the state using the most golden opportunity they could ever get- Sabarimala controversy. They employed the best of tactics to cash on this emotional religious issue and even believed, it's much like Ram Janmabhoomi of South. Sabarimala is one of the holiest shrines not just for Malayalees, but for Tamilians, Kannadigas and Telugus. More than 20–30 Million pilgrims visit this shrine, mostly from Southern states. So they expected, it could change the voting preferences of Kerala and also influence Tamilians and Telugus in a big way. Apart from BJP, the entire RSS Machinery was deployed to garner votes for BJP. Infact, more than BJP followers, it was RSS Cadres who carried out the entire election campaign for BJP candidates both online and offline. Various pro-Sangh Parivar organizations, including some their spiritual organizations, carried out daily propaganda meets to highlight the importance of electing BJP candidates to save Hinduism and Sabarimala Ayyappan. When Election Commissioner of Kerala- Teeka Ram Meena issued strict orders not to carry out any political campaigns using religious themes, BJP brought Sangh groups like Achara Samrakshana Samithi to campaign using Sabarimala topics and typical “hindu khatre mein hai”(Hindus are in Danger) slogans even few days before polling day as these groups are out of scope of Election Commission control.Yet despite of all these attempts, BJP couldn’t open an account in Kerala. Barring Trivandrum, in all other 20 seats, they remained at their third position. Out of 20 seats, NDA candidates could manage to recover their deposits in only seven constituencies while losing deposits in the other thirteen seats.So the question - Why BJP got defeated in Kerala when the country was experiencing a TsuNAMO? is relevantIrrational use of North Indian styled Hindutva philosophyThe biggest mistake BJP Kerala did in Kerala was trying to replicate their usual Hindutva strategy in Kerala. Normally, this kind of religious-oriented propaganda meant to flare up the emotional passions of voters do work in many other parts of India. It's so hard to use the same template in South India, very particularly in states like TN and Kerala.The cultural history of the South is radically different from that of the North, especially that of Kerala. The Hindutva ideology is the base philosophy of BJP. It arose out of many cultural conditionings based on sensibilities of North India. On the contrary, much of Kerala’s social and cultural sensibilities were shaped by ideals and values of Kerala Renaissance, thus the Hindutva ideology is a direct contradiction to it.BJP failed to use other more relevant topics, rather focused their entire energy in replicating an unworkable strategy.Lack of Polarizing elementBJP across India always used the element of polarizing to ensure to generate a strong votebank. Across North, West and East of India, one key reason of BJP’s resounding victory is the resurgence of Hindu identity and nationalism. The basic narrative of They vs Us always been the central idea around which BJP’s electoral strategy revolves. In almost all cases, its been Hindus vs other religions particularly Muslims. The strongest message of BJP is that other political parties are engaged in Minority appeasement and putting Hindu community in danger and it's important for BJP to unify entire Hindu community (Majority) to put minorities in their place.This is a strong polarizing concept. The fear of Muslim dominating over Hindus in the socio-economic-cultural and political sphere is a strong political message to unify of all caste/community divides within the Hindu community. And essentially it is the consistent message of BJP.But in Kerala, such narrative has no meaning at all. Sabarimala isn’t Rama Janmabhoomi case. In Ayodhya, the narrative is barbarian Muslim invaders of 16th century destroyed Hindu temple and created a Mosque over it. So the destruction of the mosque and building a new temple is a symbolic act of reclamation of lost Hindu pride and putting Hindu victory flag over Islam. A perfect case of They vs UsBut whats such in Sabarimala? There are no Minority communities involved in Sabarimala controversy as its all related to a topic of continuation of a ritual/custom or not. There are people who believe, that custom must be continued, there are some people who believe that it must be reformed. In both cases, its an internal topic within the Hindu community where no Muslim or Christians are involved.BJP wanted to project Sabarimala problem is a case of Hindu Believers vs Atheists, thus morphing into Sangh Parivar vs Communist party. But it is not a strong polarizing agenda, unlike Ram Janmabhoomi. There is little of They vs Us issue involvedMoreover, everyone knows, its a decision of the Supreme Court of India and it was a policy of RSS to allow females into Sabarimala as per their own resolution which they backtracked seeing a political opportunity for BJP.Further to complicate, the movement to save the customs of Sabarimala was primarily an issue for Upper caste Hindus more than lower caste ones. Ofcourse, even many lower castes were not in support of a change of custom, but it wasn’t a pressing topic for them, unlike the upper castes. So instead of unifying Hindus to a common plank, it actually created more divisions between Hindus itself. Practically the Sabarimala topic became more of an upper caste issue and BJP’s involvement made lower castes to move away BJP as an option due to its upper caste tag.Antics at SabarimalaWe cannot hide the light with darkness. So as there is no way BJP/RSS can deny the violence they committed in Sabarimala in the name of Custom protection.Sabarimala is one of the holiest shrines for Hindus in Kerala. The way which RSS Goons behaved in the forecourt of Sabarimala isn’t something which majority of Hindus could accept or digest.Attack over a senior lady in Sabarimala on suspicion of being a younger woman by a RSS member disguised as a devotee in the temple.Even those who support the preservation of the old customs, cannot accept the level of violence RSS cadres committed in the temple. The intention of RSS Cadres was to create a Nandigram-like narrative by forcing Govt to launch a Police action and thereby strengthen the campaign “hindu khatre mein hai”. But it didn’t happen and the 24x7 Media attention by most of the Malayalam channels showcased the real pictures live from Sabarimala. This resulted in non-acceptance of BJP as some sort of saviour of Hinduism.On the contrary, the peaceful and dignified protests of Congress against the verdict and the way they took the matter with more serious actions like filing review petitions in SC found more takersA satyagraha organized by Congress leaders at Nilakkal Base camp of Sabarimala as part of protests without resorting to any sort of violence.Problems within BJPIn one of the answers in Quora, I mentioned how poor is Kerala’s BJP unit when comes to leadership. This election exposed the heights of the leadership crisis in Kerala BJP.Even though BJP never enjoyed power at any major levels of governance in Kerala, the factionalism within BJP leadership is mindblowing. There are more than 5 to 6 major groups within BJP leadership and most of the leaders can’t see each other eye to eye. Remember, it was a party that did have a President for more than 3 to 4 months last year, just because they couldn’t find someone whom other leaders of the party can accept. And the current BJP President Adv Sreedharan Pillai is heavily opposed by many fractions within BJP Kerala. So essentially there is a leadership crisis within the partyThe lack of effective leadership made RSS intervene in this time’s election. To be very honest, in this election, its actually RSS who fought elections using BJP’s electoral symbol as right from candidate selection to the campaign was fully controlled by RSS leaders along with BJP’s central leadership. In many cases, it looked like Kerala BJP President was a mere spectator with no actual control over his party. For RSS, this election was a matter of their prestige, so effectively it was they who participated in the election rather BJP.The RSS’s direct involvement caused another issue- consolidation of Minority against BJP.RSS to take over BJP campaign in KeralaConsolidation of MinoritiesAs I mentioned before, its RSS who acted as BJP in Lok Sabha elections held in Kerala. For RSS, this election was a matter of their prestige to win. So they decided most of the candidates and essentially it was purely decided on basis of Hindutva planks keeping Sabarimala as the central topic. For this very reason, they decided to recall Mizoram Governor- Kummanam Rajashekharan and field against Shashi Tharoor in Trivandrum just because Kummanam wasn’t a pure BJP leader, rather was the leader of Hindu Aikya Vedi (a Sangh Parivar organization in Kerala). So as they ruled out Kerala BJP President Adv. Sreedharan Pillai’s wish to contest from Pathanamthitta, to place Surendran who spent more than a month in Jail as part of Sabarimala protests and made him look like the biggest hero/Savior of Sabarimala and Hindu community. And many like that.This kind of direct involvement of RSS in BJP threatened minorities in a big way. Generally, much of minorities in Kerala were not comfortable with Modi govt for last 5 years and the regular news of cow lynching and similar attacks over Muslims in many parts of the country has created a huge worrisome factor for minorities. As BJP was fully concentrating to win in Kerala, atleast in Trivandrum, Pathanamthitta and Thrissur, the minorities in these places got consolidated and fully decided to support UDF as they believed, Congress/UPA needs to be strengthened for forming a secular govt in Delhi.This trend didn’t limit just in 4 or 5 seats where BJP was concentrating more, rather across Kerala.For example, take a look at Kasargod, the northernmost district of Kerala. It was one of the strongest Left Fort, with CPM MP representing the constituency for more than 5 terms. Normally LDF wins that seat with a vote share of around 37–39% as the rest of the votes are divided between various parties which even includes many smaller Muslim parties like SDPI, PDP, Welfare party etc. This time, LDF got the same vote share, ie 39% from Kasargod, but UDF got much higher vote share thro’ consolidating all remaining other traditionally divided votes. Thus Rajmohan Unnithan who isn’t even a local leader of Kasargod and came there at last minute won with a record margin of more than 40K.Ditto with the case of many other seats like Kannur, Palakkad, Alathur etc.One must understand, in Kerala, Muslims and Christians are not single blocs, rather a very diverse society with more than 10 to 12 warring community groups within them (much like how Hindus are divided thro’ caste) and never votes together for any single party. But that has happened this time.Consolidation of Anti Modi voteThere is nothing secret that Kerala dislikes Modi to the core. In many surveys conducted, Kerala ranks top within India for disapproving Modi and his brand of politics. Approx 80% of Malayalees don't approve the aggressive style of BJP under Modi.Popularity index of Modi across India as per India Today survey with Kerala having the highest level of dissatisfaction in his governance.PM Modi most popular in Sikkim, least in Kerala: Political Stock Exchange pollThis anti-Modi vote exists even among neutral voters (non-political voters) and in last election (2014), it was divided between LDF and UDF.But this time, they seriously feared that BJP may open an account in Kerala, thro’ which BJP and Modi brand of politics will enter into the state. They seriously felt only UPA can offer some resistance to Modi at the national level as Left isn’t a major player. So there was a massive consolidation in favour of UDF everywhere.It must be noted this Anti-Modi isn’t just Minorities who form around 45% of Kerala’s society, but massively includes the remaining 40% of Hindu community as entire BJP’s vote share in Kerala is now limited to just 15%. Interestingly, Kerala’s upper caste vote bank is in and around 14–20% max, so probably BJP is reaching near to its maximum level of caste vote bank it can attract naturally. The lack of polarization and actual division of Hindu votes may have consolidated in favour of Congress to keep BJP out of KeralaLack of Modi Govt support to KeralaIf we look a reason why neutral voters of India have moved to BJP in many other parts of the country despite of so many distress that BJP caused at the macro level, the answer lies in Modi’s ability to deliver governance at MICRO-LEVEL. The unemployment may reach a record level or there could be extreme farm distress under Modi, but the common man in North and many parts of India has received some tangible benefits from Modi govt which they can recollect more on the day of polling. Say toilets or gas connections or similar. Just look Balaji Vishwanathan’s (who is indeed a Modi supporter, but writes in a very logical and judicious manner) answer belowBalaji Viswanathan (பாலாஜி விஸ்வநாதன்)'s answer to What was the reason behind the BJP winning with such a huge majority in the 2019 general elections?That is undeniable fact and serves one key reason why many commoners in North trusted Modi.However, the majority of these Modi schemes were primarily aimed at requirements and sensibilities of North Indians rather South Indians and very particularly Keralites. Kerala for last 10-20 years tops in LPG Gas consumption as most of the Kerala houses use cooking gas, so we don’t see any unique advantage of Ujjwala scheme. Or Beti Bachavo Padavo scheme. Or the Toilet Yojana. Kerala since 2005 tops in financial inclusion and the first state to be 100% financial literate. So schemes like Jan Dhan Yojana makes no sense. When Kerala govt offers much better insurance scheme, the whole concept of Ayushman Bharat looks absurd to us. Kerala tops in the number of Jan Aushadhi stores, but almost for every such store, there are 2 Karunya Pharmacies of Kerala Govt, located more prominently in Hospital facilities.So in majority cases, much of the Central Govt schemes have no impact in Kerala. And those areas which Keralites has more importance is not just ignored, but many times denied too. For example, Malayalees need more seats to travel to the Middle East and the rest of the world, while Modi govt capped foreign carriers seats to India, thus we have very little option for more flights. While Vajpayee govt allowed foreign carriers to operate to newly formed Cochin Airport in 2002, Modi govt is denying that right for Kannur Airport formed the last year…. This may not be a priority, say in Karnataka or MP, but has more importance to us. So as allowing more Rubber imports has harmed Kerala Rubber plantations.The lack of support of Central Govt during Kerala floods was indeed extremely pathetic and we can compare that with Modi’s huge support to Odisha right from day 1.If we look, Modi govt promised an AIIMS for Kerala in 2014 and completely ignored despite offering land. Systematically no major central investments were made to the state and existing Central Govt Companies in Kerala forced to expanded outside Kerala.Even the NH development got froze and there was a letter issued by BJP Kerala unit asking Central Govt to deprioritize NH Development in Kerala despite of LDF govt acquiring land for the project.Work on highways de-prioritised, Pinarayi says BJP stalling development in KeralaSo these all impacted the Anti Modi/BJP votersPoor AllianceThough there is NDA in Kerala, it comprises of just BJP and BDJS. BJP miserably failed to attract any potential main parties into NDA Kerala. BDJS claims to have influence among Ezhava community, but its President Tushar Vellappily’s father- Vellappilly Natesan who is the leader of Ezhava community organization- SNDP was busy campaigning for Left in Kerala.NDA in Kerala has attracted only splinter and rebel groups of main parties and the majority of them being political outcasts. Its impossible to win in Kerala as a single party. Even the powerful CPM which was the largest party of Kerala was forced to sit out from power for nearly one and half decade (1969 to 1980) only because they couldn’t form an alliance. In no way, with the present alliance, NDA Kerala can’t make a major advance in elections.Less Modi Bhakti MediumOne great reason Modi has a huge positive aura in many parts of India is primarily because of the impact of Pro-BJP media. Most of the major Indian News Channels has effectively been Pro-BJP or atleast BJP Friendly channels. Some of the top channels like Republic or Zee News acts more or less like an official BJP Spokeschannel. There are very few anti-BJP channels in the mainstream sector across India. So any news critical to BJP/Modi is often censored or censured in these channels.This is the opposite in Kerala. In Kerala, every news channels are Pro-Left in nature and in many cases- Anti-BJP. The classic case is that of Asianet News, which is the largest news media corporation of Kerala. Asianet News is owned by Rajeev Chandrashekar, vice-chairman of NDA Kerala and a BJP MP from Bangalore. But Asianet News is the biggest critic of Modi and BJP in Malayalam, thanks to the editorial independence of Asianet News.This election season, all Malayalam channels, including Asianet commissioned best of news teams to tour around India and every single day, we are shown visuals and news documentaries that highlight the level of distress that Modi govt brought to much parts of India. We have seen several news reports of how industries in Tirupur in TN collapsed due to demonetization or how stray cattle poses a huge issue to farmers in UP or how Dalits are lynched/attacked in Gujarat. Naturally, there won’t be any positive opinions about Modi. Our media don’t prefer to know Modi’s Mango love or Cloud theory.Asianet News special documentary series for this election- Delhi muthal Kashi Vare (From Delhi to Kashi) which highlights the plights and situtions in Gangetic plains under Modi rule. This specific episode highlights the failures of Modi GovtAlso, the news debates in Malayalam channels are much more reminiscent of old style (NDTV Style) which focuses on objective answering and giving space to each individual to speak with less aggression of anchors.Remember, Asianet News Limited is the owner of Republic TV, yet the editorial policy differs in a big way. Even its own Kannada channel-Suvarna News is more or less Modi Bhakti channel. Interestingly Malayalam News 18 which is part of Mukesh Ambani’s channel conglomerate group (News 18) is much hardcore Left more than CPM’s party channel-Kairali TV.In Kerala, only BJP’s channel-Janam TV is involved in Modi Bhakti propagation, which however isn’t much watched.Political Literate SocietyKerala society is highly political literate society. Go to even a small Chayakada (Tea Shop), one can see people discussing topics from their Panchayat President to American President. People are much aware of what's happening across India and how it can impact oneself etc. So essentially the Pros and Cons of Modi govt are often discussed and many feels a coalition govt is better for preserving diverse interests of India rather a monolithic Govt.No impact of NationalismWhile Kerala psyche is heavily patriotic, it is opposed for any kind of nationalism. We don’t have any passion or urge in muscular nationalistic trends, hence we don’t feel anything special or unique in Balakot air-strikes etc. Remember Pulwama attack was a shock for Kerala as a Malayalee Jawan died in this attack and whole Kerala went into a state of mourning. Still it didn't create any sort of revenge mood in Kerala. But the entire Pulwama episode has created a strong anti-Modi feeling as there was a massive intelligence failure from the part of Govt. Post Balakot strikes and Pakistan’s retaliation, Malayalam media wasn’t celebrating the occasion, rather worrying about the rising DEFCON meter, the fall of rupee value etc. So the whole episode didn’t create any advantage for Modi in Kerala, rather created a sort of feeling that of a potential war impending over India under Modi rule. And BJP too realized that, so Modi didn’t highlight these topics in his two rallies in Kerala.Overall, these are the key factors that led to BJP’s colossal debacle in Kerala and an unexpected massive win for Congress.BJP needs to understand Kerala sensibilities better and reinvent its strategy specific to Kerala, rather trying to import the template used in Gujarat or Gangetic plains, if need to be relevant as a major player. However, there is no iota of doubt that BJP is a growing party in Kerala.

Well, this is a complicated multi-faceted issue which is also bit cluttered at multiple levels.The whole issue is blown out of proportion when Kerala Govt objected privatization of Trivandrum airport which was announced by Central Govt by handing over the airport operations to Adani Group.I will just give a brief background to the context for those who have no idea of its whole context and then to current context.Thiruvananthapuram International Airport is one of India’s oldest airports, much to the league of Delhi or Mumbai. It was established in 1932, the fourth airport facility after Juhu (Mumbai), Safdarjung (Delhi), Karachi, established as Royal Travancore Air Club as the Consort Prince- HH G. V. Raja (H.H The Queen’s husband) was quiet interested in flying and decided to start his own flying club to learn civil aviation.That year, JRD Tata started his airline- the famous Tata Air Services which started its first flight between Karachi to Mumbai, that impressed Travancore Govt and the Maharaja personally sent a mail to JRD Tata to consider flying to Trivandrum. So immediately JRD Tata made India’s first longest flight connecting Bombay to Trivandrum carrying mails meant for Royal Anchal (Travancore Post services). Also in 1935, Tata launched first commercial operations connecting Bombay to Trivandrum via Kannur (that time there was a small airport in Kannur), making it the first scheduled Domestic service in India (prior to that, all airline operations of Tata were Royal Air Mail services). This lead conversion of a small flying club to proper airport and Travancore Govt funded to make it into a proper airport, making it the first airport among Native Princely states of India (Kannur was then part of British India and no airport facility, rather just an airfield).The old ads of Tata Airlines (Air India) prior to 1947 highlighting its longest domestic flight in the countryTravancore govt acquired land for runway as well as bldg etc (there was an issue in Land that time, as aircrafts were prohibited to fly over Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple due to local traditions, so runway was constructed in such a way that air planes can bypass the city core when flying into Trivandrum). However the runway passes thro’ the royal road where the Lord’s Arattu (religious procession) would pass to reach the beach shore, but it was decided to halt all flight operations only on the Arattu days for the procession to use the traditional route (a tradition strictly followed today too). British Govt in Delhi didn’t spend a penny to fund this airport as Travancore wasn’t part of British India then.When Travancore merged with Indian Union in 1949, the airport land was handed over to the provincial state of Travancore-Cochin Govt. When Indian constitution was made in 1950, Civil Aviation became a Central Subject, hence the TC Govt handed over the airport and its land to Central Govt just like any other airports in the country.Now originally the airport land was limited airfield as it was located in thickly populated fishermen colony area (just close to Shankumugham Beach), which was okay for the aircrafts of 1940s-50s era. However when Jet flights came and much larger aircrafts started coming, the runway became insufficient and some more land were acquired by Kerala Govt and handed over to Central Govt to expand the runway. However the big push came in 1970s when Gulf migration started and people started migrating to Gulf countries in big way. In that era, India allowed international flights only from 4 airports- Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkatta. However as Malayalees started migrating to ME in larger numbers, state owned Air India started limited flights from Trivandrum to Sharjah and Riyadh via Mumbai towards end of 1970s. However soon these international flights became so lucrative for Air India. However due to presence of many Bombay based lobbies, the limited flights from Trivandrum to Gulf countries ceased by 1983, which caused a huge resentment among NRK community. Air India cited lack of runway space for larger flights as a reason and Kerala Govt responded by additional land acquisition on priority basis in 1985. The proactive approach of Kerala Govt addressing NRK concerns and apathy shown by AI in delaying direct flights, lead to a huge protests among NRK community and in 1987, there were intense protests in Bombay airport (where Malayalee Passengers arriving from Gulf would sit in the runway to disrupt flight operations) seeking Govt of India to grant direct International flights to Trivandrum.This finally forced India Govt to grant special permissions to allow direct International flights along with limited foreign flights (Air Lanka, Air Maldives and Gulf Air started towards end of 1980s along with Indian Airlines connecting to many Gulf countries. In meantime, IAAI also extended the runway to facililate much larger flights. And finally in 1991, Trivandrum became the first Non-Metro International Airport of India and the 5th International airport after Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Kolkatta. Ever since regular international flights both by domestic and foreign carriers started.In this time, there was huge protests for second airport in Kerala, which lead birth of Calicut Airport in 1992, where NRIs crowd-funded for an airport which AAI built it. And that also lead to demand for third airport- Kochi, which was functioning inside Navy’s INS Garuda Airport. But India Govt didn’t agree for a third airport citing no funds and Kerala Govt said that it can build its own airport in Kochi, if central govt gives permission. And with such a permission, Kerala Govt started embarking on a project inspired from Calicut experience of NRK crowdfunding, but eventually it lead to birth of CIAL (Cochin International Airport Limited), India’s first Public-Private Participation model airport. in 1999. Infact prior to CIAL, there was no such concept of PPP in aviation sector or most of the sectors in India. CIAL also became India’s first airport outside Govt of India’s ownership (outside AAI’s control) and the model was also unique. It was basically a permanent JV between Govt of Kerala, Banks and Private entrepreneurs as well as private individuals, not the concessionaire system as you find later PPP models like Bangalore or Delhi etc.And CIAL model worked. It became THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PPP story in Kerala and became a sort of template for Kerala Govt. This also later gave birth to another entity- the Kannur International Airport Limited- KIAL which also functions same way as CIAL.And this also lead to policy concept difference between Kerala and Central govt over the concept of PPP. According to Kerala, PPP is a permanent JV between State and Private party where state will also have an active role in day-to-day activities. In short, Kerala’s concept of PPP is state and private individuals forming a company and that company managing the facility. This is called JV model or BOO model (Build-Own-Operate)On the contrary Central Govt’s PPP concept is different. Central Govt proposes to give away a sector to a Private concessionaire who will own/manage/develop a facility for a certain period and give back to Center upon expiry of the term. This is called Concessionaire model which has multiple variants like BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) or DBFOT (Design, Build-Finance-Operate-Transfer) or BOLT (Build-Operate-Lease-Transfer model) or LDOT model (Lease-Design-Operate-Transfer).The last 3 models, ie DBFOT, BOLT and LDOT models are common for private airports in India (barring CIAL and KIAL).These models are opposed by Kerala Govt in general (not very strongly, but more commonly). Kerala Govt and society enlarge isn’t supportive for pure private enterprise culture, due to the adherence of Left-Socialist values in the society. Even though the society accepts that private entrepreneurs drives better growth, the society equally highlights the negative side of animalistic spirits of entrepreneurs which may harm larger social interests. So the public opinion is more towards PPP where govt equally have a role to play to control. Also there was a consensus among both alliances that, new projects can be in DBFOT/BOOT models considering the fact that Kerala Govt donot have enough money to invest and take a controlling stake, while existing entities if to privatize must be made in JV model only, with Govt having a major stake.Kerala’s experience with concessionaire system was always negative as concessionaire companies are always aimed to make maximum revenue within shortest period of time. So concessionaire models in NH development always ends up as a social issue in Kerala with numerous protests regularly happening at Thrissur Toll gate citing day light robbery in name of tolls. So as the first BOT project- the BOT Thommumpady Bridge in Kochi also became the biggest battle ground between citizens and the BOT Company citing excessive tolls. Due to all these, the social attitude where a private operator controls a govt facility for a specific period is always frowned upon.On the contrary there is a huge positive attitude towards JV approach where Kerala Govt holds a stake and huge voice within the directorial board in every major decision. CIAL is the best example for that as technically its a private airport with majority being private investment, but controlled by Govt (thro’ govt appointed MD). Since Kerala Govt has a huge voice in the directorial board, the accountability factor of govt towards public is equally protected. Another similar example is the Technopark-Infopark model where Kerala Govt owned IT Parks owns land and invite private entities to invest as co-developers instead of doing directly.In every way, Kerala society demands govt active participation in business entities. Thats why Kerala Govt is virtually present every sphere of Keralan Life from running grocery shops to airports.Now specific to TVM issueTrivandrum airport is owned by Govt of India under AAI, which runs in very typical Sarkari fashion. Despite of being the oldest airport in the state and one of the oldest in the country, hardly any major upgrades or facilities exist in the terminal. This becomes more severe when we compare Trivandrum Airport with Cochin or recently with Kannur, as latter are private airports under Kerala Govt.Over last one decade, Kerala Govt was actively pursuing the idea of take over remaining two airports (Trivandrum and Kozhikode) under its control. Govt has made enough lobbying with central govts to take over these airport after successful experience of managing CIAL and now KIAL. The govt actively pushed for closure of current Karipur airport (Kozhikode) by shifting the facility to Thiruvambady where a greenfield airport can be constructed for Kozhikode under CIAL model. However it didn’t work out much.Demand for airport at Thiruvambady hots upNew airport in Kozhikode: Govt orders feasibility studyIn terms of Trivandrum, the govt donot wanted the airport to shift from its current location as being the only airport in the state located within the Central business district or inside the downtown which is heavily patronized by govt officials, ministers, politicians etc apart from other passenger base.And that exactly is the problem with TRV. Trivandrum airport being its location inside the city, is always constrained by the space. Hardly there is any room for any expansion. And Kerala Govt knows that, its chance to take over TRV exists over this bargain chip, ie Land.In 2005, Central Govt requested Kerala govt for additional 50 acres of land for expansion as the airport terminals were reaching its saturation point. With no scope of acquiring land in the old terminal side (Shankumugham beach area), Kerala govt somehow acquired 23 acres of land in the opposite side (Chakka area) which is closer to NH 66 at a very premium price. But Kerala govt prior to handover made a demand to make the state as joint owner of Trivandrum airport, which then the central govt didn’t comply as there was no provision under AAI Act to have a state or any other party as co-owner in an AAI facility. But the then Manmohan Singh Govt made a public assurance that, in event of privatization or similar, the state will be given a stake in the SPV to be formed in lieu of the value of the land which the state has acquired for. And in this land, AAI constructed the current T2 facility meant for international travellers.Untill 2017, there was no active proposals of privatization of TRV airport and whenever any proposal comes, Kerala Govt used to make a claim as they believed they have a right to claim so for the land they provided twice which was acquired a very premium rate ( being inside the city center and the airport area is thickly populated zone). In meantime, even the current facility reached its saturation stage and urgently require minimum 18 Acres to expand both terminal and parallel taxiway.However the families around the airport were resisting any sort of acquisitions. In this context, Kerala Govt officially wrote to Central govt, if to provide any additional land, they must have a controlling stake in TRV airport as a company, where they can implement CIAL model.CIAL ModelIn CIAL land acquisition stage, there was heavy public opposition as the land was again a premium factor in Kerala. CIAL overcame thro’ innovative means, ie by announcing a wholesome very attractive compensation package.Announcing govt guaranteed jobs within CIAL to all families who lose the land. This means, every family who gave land to CIAL will get assured jobs within CIAL for minimum of 3 generations in accordance to one’s qualifications. This means any direct member of the victim family has the first right to claim for any job within CIAL from CEO to a peon position in accordance to vacancy and qualification. This sort of reservation was first of its kind in a corporate sector and since GOK has an active stake in CIAL, the govt guaranteed that CIAL will uphold this promise perpetually.Those families who lost their livelihood due to airport project in CIAL will be given a taxi car and badge to become official airport taxi driver. CIAL formed its own Taxi company- the CATS (Cochin Airport Taxi Society) where taxi drivers and CIAL have equal stake and CIAL will procure modern cars and provide to the taxi drivers at No-Interest basis (only principal amount need to pay back). They also have monopoly to take passengers from the airportCIAL assured to all erstwhile landowners that the company will provide subsidized utilities as part of its CSR to them and in last 20 years they kept the promise as CIAL provides subsidized electricity, water and even education to people of Nedumbassery locality (where the airport is located).CIAL also provided plots to those families whose houses were acquired in process of airport temple and constructed a colony for them- Vimana-nagaram or Airport city close to the airport gates as well as tied up with Federal Bank and Hudco to provide home loans at subsidized interest rates.These all measures are independent of standard GOK compensation. This was possible because CIAL was an autonomous company and can make such offers that GOK can’t do directly as latter is bound by rules and procedures.Due to this factor, LA was pretty easy in CIAL as most of the landowners can’t refuse such huge offers. This same model was used in Kannur airport project too.Kerala govt’s stand is that, to acquire more land in TRV, they need CIAL/KIAL model where the company has to assure the locality of these benefits, so that they will give up the land. Its impossible for Kerala Govt to pay ridiculous/astronomical land prices (market value). Thats why Kerala Govt press for its stake in Trivandrum airport, so that it can use that to give offers indirectly and procure land.However, there was no positive response from Central Govt on that in 2017.But instead the GOI came up with open tendering in 2018 for privatizing TRV under LDO model. However the biggest game changer was GOI modified the terms.In standard privatization model, it was more of fixed lease value to be paid to AAI during the concession period as done in Mumbai or Delhi models. But in the new plan, GOI made it per passenger based revenue sharing model, ie an amount to be paid AAI depending upon passengers patronizing it which was highly unusual. And also the clause of previous experience in Airport construction and management was removed. This lead to allegation that, these changes were made to help those cronies which were closely associated with NDA govt.Kerala govt objected to Trivandrum’s Privatization as such, rather claimed that center must handover the airport to State lead SPV directly (with a central stake too) and there is no need of tendering, if its an inter-govt transfer. But centre didn’t agree and after intense lobbying, central govt allowed State to participate in the tendering process and gave First rights of refusal (if within 10% range).Kerala govt also formed a SPV- TIAL and flouted a global tender for a private investor which brought Frankfurt Airport and some other companies into potential partnership. However many sources clearly indicate that GOI has pre-fixed Adani for gaining these airports, thus most of the companies which were supposed to form TIAL were doubtful to invest. So the condition was, let Kerala Govt alone procure the operational rights for Trivandrum and once it gains, TIAL will be formed with other partners.Trivandrum international airport: Going gets tough for state bid11 companies evince interest in Trivandrum airportWhen tenders were opened Adani became the highest quoting a ridiculous figure of Rs 168 per passenger (to be paid to AAI), while KSIDC (representing the GOK) quoted Rs 135 per passenger, whereas most of other established players like GMR etc quoting less than 100.This means, Adani has to get back atleast double the amount, if they have to pay 168 Rs to AAI per passenger, which means the passenger expenditure at TRV will be of ridiculous level.And interesting, ADANI quoted similar ridiculous extraordinary pricing for all other airports that went for bidding. This has pushed Kerala Govt to reassure that its a pre-fixated deal between Modi govt and Adani (as everyone in India knows both Modi is closely associated with Adani) and the govt refused to accept it. It became a huge issue with entire Airport staff (including BJP’s own unions inside the airport) opposing Adani to take over the airport and interestingly every party including BJP Kerala officially opposing it. Moreover it was in Jan 2019 which was prior to elections of 2019 and BJP can’t antagonize ordinary people in Trivandrum with the image of selling national properties for Adani (as there was a chance for BJP to win from Trivandrum). So that time, many BJP leaders from Kerala went and met Suresh Prabhu (the-then Civil Aviation minister) seeking to reconsider the tender decision for TRV. Pinarayi Vijayan also met Modi to reconsider and even offered him the same price which Adani is offering (Rs 168) to get the airport under GOK control.BJP Trivandrum District President- Adv S Suresh launching the protest meet lead by BMS Airport Trade union to protest against Adani taking over Airport in Jan 2019.V Muraleedharan in 2018 wrote a detailed FB post the importance of keeping TRV under state control and not to hand over to Adani or any private entrepreneurs. The same Muraleendaran supporting privatization nowThus this became a prestige issue for Kerala Govt and the state govt said, in no manner it will allow the state’s premier airport to go to Adani. As per Pinarayi Vijayan and many other ministers, they got an assurances from Modi that, final decision will be made only after taking the state in full confidence.A case was filed by GOK in Kerala High Court against this (the original case was dismissed by High Court, but restored by Supreme Court of India and now in front of HC about the validity of Adani’s tendering to the airport).In 2020, the current Civil Aviation Minister made an assurance to Parilament that no decision was made over Trivandrum’s privatization as the matter is sub-judice now.And contrary to the Minister’s claim, last day, Central govt cleared Adani’s right to hold all the 6 airports, despite of the fact, the airport issue is still pending before Kerala High court.This once again re-ignited the matter and Kerala Govt vowed, it will NOT cooperate with the decision. If Kerala Govt refuse to cooperate, then the whole TRV airport will be jeopardized as it has reached its saturation point and without land acquisition, the airport operations will be severely affected.Further the airport has issue with road access to its facility from the highway and Kerala Govt can effectively block plans of new flyover/ramps etc which will complicate passenger convenience to the facility. In addition, the airport unions (including BJP ones) are opposed to the Adani, which means they can easily lockdown the airport operations effectively.Pinarayi’s letter to PM Modi after the all Party meet announcing absolute non-cooperation for any private party take over in TRV and request for reconsideration of leasing to AdaniAlready the people around the airport announced, they will not give up their land for land acquisitions if Adani takes over the airport (as they won’t get CIAL like benefits) and if state govt halts any land acquisition process, it means every expansion plans will stop.Land owners to back out of offerAs of now, every political party in Kerala barring BJP is opposed Adani taking over Trivandrum airport and the govt of Kerala got a consent from all opposition parties for any harsh steps to prevent Adani taking over airport. As state elections are approaching, this shall likely to be a major political issue too in Trivandrum as privatizing a national property like TRV has created a sense of distrust element. For traditional Trivandrumites, the airport is seen as Sree Padmanabha’s property as the airport is situated the lord’s procession road and handing over his property to an outsider also invokes negative feeling against BJP (they are trying to reduce that anger by making a counter argument that CPM is trying to gain the airport to prevent Sree Padmanabha’s annual processions to enter into the facility).Overall, among the commoners of Trivandrum, this became a huge issue and LDF sees its a potential tool to outsmart growing fortunes of BJP in Trivandrum district.Pinarayi dares Modi to send Adani. But can Kerala seriously defy Centre's airport authority?State cooperation necessary to run TVM airport smoothly: Pinarayi during all-party meetThe other side of the storyAs I mentioned, it has both political and social factors for Kerala Govt to oppose.But there is also a group of supporters to Adani’s take over apart from hardcore BJP cadres (who support just out of political compulsions). These supporters are mostly young Techie community of Technopark as well as group of Trivandrum based entrepreneurs and investors.For a long time, they were pained seeing the pathetic state of Trivandrum airport under AAI and their pains increase when they see how Cochin Airport is progressing rapidly. So they want privatization of the airport at any cost. In South India, almost all capital cities (Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai to some extend) has world class airports, but Trivandrum ended up with a shit-hole like TRV airport only because of AAI. So they believe, only a private entrepreneur can change fortunes of their city.And current Trivandrum MP Shashi Tharoor is an active supporter of this group. He along with this community were launching many initiatives to make Trivandrum, a city equal to Bangalore or Hyderabad. One of their famous campaigns is #MoveToTrivandrum highlights their passion to make their city great. The upcoming Vizhinjam Seaport is one great hope for this community to see Trivandrum moving out of its traditional laid back attitude and becoming a major commercial city (Trivandrum since its inception was always an administrative city and never had anything of commercial city status in past)As Vizhinjam Seaport is built by Adani group, in partnership with GOK (GOK has a policy that they allow concessionaires for new projects), this community believes, if airport also comes under Adani, it creates a huge synergy.Shashi Tharoor in 2019, made it clear to public, he will support any private investor- X Y or Z as long as Trivandrum airport is privatized. So even now, he repeat his stance, he supports TRV’s privatization irrespective what KPCC says. He said, while he don’t support Adani’s ridiculous pricing, he says he sees no other alternative for TRV at the momentTharoor’s interview in 2019 that he will support any private investor to take over TrivandrumMost of the supporters are technocrats/business investors from TRV feels, TRV is no where in the aviation race when compared to Kochi or even the much recent Kannur, only because its under AAI. And they want Adani to invest as it shall be a clear success story (because central govt will do any extend to support Adani’s business) which will help Trivandrum to grow more better, projecting these success stories.Apart from this, they fear, the hard attitude of the state against Adani may send wrong signals that state is opposed to private entrepreneurs (in reality its not, as state itself is trying to bring international players). The argument is simple. If there is a pure Private player without state stake, many in Trivandrum aspire their airport may be of league of BLR or BOM or HYD or DEL where GMR/GVK invested so much and made radical changes unlike CIAL model which is always known as Common Man’s Airport etc with lesser investment. The show-off factor values so much in Trivandrum social culture, so an ultra huge-gold plated airport definitely has a boasting value as one sees in BOM or HYD etc.Regulator looks into airport cost inflationAnd thats the exact point where Kerala Govt and others oppose. They feel, just like how GMR/GVK gold plated their private airports for charging so much from the passengers, the same will be done in TRV too.Kerala air passengers traditionally NRKs who were mostly middle class or lower class strata. For them affordability matters a lot, rather than paying premium for airport facilities. Its for this reason, the Users Fee in airport is always a controversial subject in Kerala.If one looks, CIAL was the first airport in the country to bring the concept of Users Fee way back in 2000. But it also became the first airport in the country to ROLL BACK the Users fee concept in 2006 as public was opposed paying huge amount to use a facility. Today CIAL remains the only private airport in India without an user fee (BLR charges 308 Rs while untill recently HYD used to charge 1700 Rs)Bengaluru airport hikes user fee by a massive 120%This is Not the Way to Privatise AirportsKerala Govt fears that if a private operator like Adani, by quoting such ridiculous pricing, ends up huge user fee in TRV, it shall be a major issue for Kerala society. Unlike other states where airports were seen more as a Middle class/upper class facility, in Kerala, airports are always part of every class in the society and affordability of airport is a key political topic too.So both sides have equal points to highlight and argue. The final result, probably only time can tell.In my opinion, I would choose CIAL/KIAL model anyday as Kerala society is not same as Gujarat society or Karnataka society etc. We cannot accept a full fledged private investment without state control/stake etc and in event of so, it shall be a perfect recipe for failure. I don’t wish to see bad stories from Kerala’s civil aviation.Why Kerala is up in arms over Adani Group bagging bid to run Trivandrum airportAdani Group may have to wait to take over Thiruvananthapuram airportTough road ahead for Adani to take over Trivandrum airportCPM to send two lakh emails to PM Modi opposing Thiruvananthapuram airport privatisation