While the ‘God’s Own Country’ rose in righteous indignation on the Centre’s indifference to the issue of a nationwide ban .on the pesticide, Congress thought it fit to play politics on the sensitive matter.

The party compounded its offence by also boycotting a day-long fast undertaken by Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan to demand a nationwide ban on the pesticide.

The VS decision to undertake the fast was appreciated by one and all; and people belonging to different sections of society attended the function organized in the State capital.

Even the BJP, which is an implacable adversary of the LDF Government, supported VS’s fast, with the party’s seniormost leader in the state, Mr O. Rajagopal expressing solidarity with the VS by being personally present on the occasion.

Needless to say, the Congress’s attempt to politicize an issue on which injection of politics should have been avoided, has been politically damaging for the party.

The only Congress leader who redeemed himself was Mr V M Sudheeran, who deplored the UPA Government’s stand on the issue. Mr Sudheeran went to the extent of dubbing the Union Agriculture Ministry and Minister as ‘brand ambassadors’ of endosulfan.
Subsequent events vindicated the LDF Government’s stand. India found itself totally isolated on the issue at the Geneva Convention. As many as 25 nations, including China demanded a global ban on the harmful pesticide, while India earned international opprobrium by opposing a ban on it. New Delhi ended up with egg on its face when the Geneva Convention banned endosulfan besides incurring global wrath for promoting the interests of the pesticide lobby, both national and international.

The Congress should thank its stars that the issue did not erupt before the state assembly elections. Had it happened before the polls, the party would have had to pay heavily in terms of vote loss.

Fittingly, Chief Minister Achuthanandan and the LDF Government earned the gratitude of the people of Kerala for their positive stand on the issue. The commendable activism displayed by the 87-year-‘young’ Chief Minister should be the envy of people half his age. (IPA Service)