ENTE PRIYAPETTU THRISSUREKARE

BY SANTOSH PAUL, SENIOR ADVOCATE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

I am writing to you because you all will go to vote on 26th of April 2024. Thrissur let me tell you is metaphorical for the State of Kerala. Like most of Kerala Thrissur has an overall literacy rate of 95.96%, 97.37% male literacy and female literacy of 94.72%.

Let me tell you something about our economic history. I was in school in Coimbatore in the mid 1970s. The daily labour wage rate in Coimbatore was Rs. 2 per day. Across the border, in Kerala, it was five times at Rs. 10 per day. As industries migrated to Tamil Nadu, doomsday was declared for Kerala’s industry and its population. That was not to be.

There was something remarkable which was happening in the state of Kerala which was defying conventional economics. The all India average for life expectancy in 1976 – 1980 was just 52 years. In Kerala it was 66 years. This phenomenon of high life expectancy at birth, low death rate, well balanced male-female ratio, high literacy rate, low incidence of poverty would soon earn its name in developmental economics as the ‘Kerala growth model’.

By the mid-90s, Amartya Sen took note of this economic phenomenon in his book ‘India: Economic Development and Social Opportunity’.  He found many parts of India were in positions worse than sub-Saharan Africa, and in stark contrast, Kerala was ahead of Indonesia, Thailand and even South Korea in most human development index parameters. The Nobel Laureate was to remark, which is a truism even today, “Kerala’s success can be traced to the role of public action in promoting a range of social opportunities relating to elementary education, land reform, the role of women in society, and the widespread
equitable provision of health care and other public services. Interestingly Uttar Pradesh’s failures can be plausibly be attributed to the public neglect of the very same opportunities”

Yet in this elections especially in Thrissur, a narrative is sought to be advanced that there are better things in store for the Kerala state, if it abandons its secular politics, its syncretic heritage and its welfare oriented economics.

At the heart of Kerala’s success lies the peace amongst its religions and also the
transformational message of its great religious leaders and the reformists. The religions of Kerala which have a long and unblemished record of communal harmony. This communal harmony made possible, dedicated efforts towards education and health care give spectacular results which has put cities like Thrissur on the top of every human development indice.

Kerala’s syncretic heritage has a lot to do with the region’s unique history. Lets go to Kodungalur. There in a 10 kilometre radius there are four distinct living symbols of our inclusive syncretic civilization : (1) the fabled port of Muzhiris at Pattanam (which conducted trade from 1st  century BC to 14th  century AD with Europe, the Middle East, the Mediterranean and China), (2) the Azhikode jetty where St Thomas is believed to have landed, (3) the 7th  century Cheraman Juma Madjid the oldest mosque in the country and (4). the spectacular 1800 year old Kodungalur Bhagwathi temple. It symbolizes our celebration of diversity and how this has enabled progress and betterment of our society.

Along with the success of Kerala, came the discontents: those who lost their pre-eminent socio economic advantage; those who find Kerala’s social equality unacceptable; those not reconciled to the religious and social harmony in the society and for whom the sheer rapidity of economic mobility was unpalatable. These discontents are now wittingly, and some unwittingly, getting wedded to communal and sectarian ideologies.

With the onset of elections, in the last few months, Kerala is seeing the spectacle
of sectarianism and enmity amongst communities being promoted by politicos. The language used is clearly to drive a sectarian wedge in a state which boasts of, as I said,
centuries of communal harmony. It is commendable that most of our politicians
had the courage and the gumption to dispel these sentiments.

As attempts to drum up sectarian conflict will continue, it will pay for Kerala to study the lessons from the history of Lebanon. Lebanon, like Kerala, was the very epicenter of a rich, multi-religious and ethnically diverse society in the Middle East. Here Christians, Shi’ite and Sunni Muslims, the Druze and Jews coexisted and thrived. As Edward Said put it, Lebanon was synonymous with “openness, diversity and the joy of life”.

Lebanon in the late 60’s and early 70’s like Kerala took to modern education very early.  With peace among its religions and literacy levels at 73.5%, Lebanon made a neat head start in the Arab world.  Lebanese expats working abroad sent foreign exchange remittances which formed the bulwark of the Lebanese economy. Lebanon’s dynamic economy enjoyed high growth rates, a large influx of foreign capital, and steadily rising per capita income. It became the epicenter of commerce and trade in the Middle East. Lebanese Banks became the main source for channeling the petro-dollar boom and became the repositories of the new found Arab wealth.

However, this prosperity also brought to fore myopic sectarian politics. With the growth of denominational politics, the truce among the religions began to collapse in bits and parts. Sunday, the 13th  of April 1975, will remain written in blood in the history of Lebanon. There was an exchange of fire between the Sheik Gemayel Pierre’s Christian militia and unidentified gunmen. The same day 27 Palestinian were killed in an ambush. These two violent incidents triggered the simmering sectarian passions which had been carefully cultivated by the political elites for short term gains. Instead of calming the situation, the leaders incited the masses. Beirut soon exploded into an orgy of violence. The religions of Lebanon with their armed militias soon took the field. This spectacular nation went into a civil war.

As in all conflicts, there was an economic price to be paid. The industry in Lebanon sustained a direct damage (one-fifth of the industry’s fixed capital was destroyed).
There was also indirect damage to industry, trade and business. Foreign banks
which came to Beirut were now fleeing the beleaguered city. Lebanese banks,
once flushed with funds, were now finding their deposits depleting. The Lebanese
Pound which once proudly rose against the dollar, now collapsed. The commercial
elites who funded the sectarian politics and strife were now on the run to safer
western capitals.

After 15 years of indecisive fighting, a truce was drawn up in Ta’if Saudi Arabia. Lebanon woke up at the end of the 15 year civil war to discover that it had lost its erstwhile pre-eminent position in the Arab world. The Arab money no longer needed the educated and multilingual Lebanese. The Middle East’s businessmen had learnt to deal directly with Western banks and corporations. Lebanon was no longer the Arab world’s financial capital. The Middle East had developed their own markets and financial centers. Dubai, Riyadh, Muscat, Doha and many other world-class financial centers bloomed in the interregnum.

Kerala is in the position of the pre-civil war Lebanon. It is the peace among religions, which has enabled the State to climb the dizzying heights of human development index. It is this peace which enabled the state over the decades to develop well-heeled public education systems, public health care systems and a human indice to international acclaim. The NITI Ayog published a report titled ‘India: Multidimensional Poverty Index 2023 which is strikingly revealing:

S.No. Indices Kerala Gujarat

1. Multi dimensional poverty 0.55% 11.66%
2. Nutritional deprivation 16.44% 38.09%
3. Child and adolescent mortality 0.20% 1.81%
4. Maternal health deprived 3.30% 12.72%
5. Schooling deprived 2.49% 7.94%
6. School attendance deprived 0.25% 5.06%
7. Sanitation deprived 1.27% 26.05%
8. Electricity deprived 0.41% 2.44%
9. Housing deprived 16.67% 23.30%
10. Asset deprived 3.05% 11.37%
11. Bank account deprived 3.22% 4.40%
    12 Drinking Water Deprived 5.40% 5.31%
    13 Cooking fuel deprived 28.12% 34.74%

All this was possible, because so far, Kerala could avoid the fratricidal and myopic
politics of sectarianism which looms large in many parts of India

Before i conclude, i wanted to tell you something which i saw halfway across the globe, in Chicago. Over two hundred members of one particular Kerala family attended a wedding. All these Malayalis were all professionally qualified and well entrenched into middle class America. They are, mind you, the children of parents who voted successive social democratic formations in Kerala which gave them affordable education, healthcare, and nutrition. Little will these youngsters ever know, that they are the products of the most spectacular human index success story in the world.