When it assumed office, the UDF Government accorded top priority to eradication of corruption. However, in practice, it packed the Oommen Chandy-led ministry with half a dozen ministers against whom cases were pending, ignoring the suggestions of well-wishers and the opposition Left Democratic Government.

It did not stop at that. The Government transferred, en masse, top police officers investigating some of these cases in blatant violation of all rules. It was an unabashed attempt to undermine and scuttle the cases against these ministers under a cloud.

As if this was not enough, the Government reinstated, in an unseemly hurry, a top police officer who had been suspended by the previous LDF government on various charges including links with terrorists. The officer, Tomin Thachankary was reinstated, the government claimed, because the Union Home Ministry recommended his reinstatement. The Home Ministry, however, denied having cleared Thachankary’s reinstatement, saying that it was the Oommen Chandy Government which had mooted the officer’s reinstatement. Needless to say, the government ended up with egg on its face.

Similarly, it rushed to the rescue of Kerala Congress (B) chief and former minister R Balakrishna Pillai, who was sentenced to one year’s rigorous imprisonment by the Supreme Court in the Edamalayar corruption case. The Government ensured more parole for Pillai than he was entitled to by having him admitted to a five-star hospital for treatment of his health problems! So much for its talk of eradicating corruption.

The enthusiasm with which it tried to scuttle the cases against ministers was matched only by the zeal with which it targeted leader of the opposition, V S Achuthanandan and his son for the latter’s so-called acts of omission and commission.

Another ‘achievement’ of the Government was the thorough mess it made of the education sector. With a stroke of the pen, the Education Minister threw the education sector open to the corporates to the detriment of hundreds of Government schools. It also brought back the examination system in schools replacing the existing grade system. The Government’s ill-advised move drew flak from students and parents alike.

Another grandiose government announcement was that encroachers of government land, including those in Munnar, would be evicted within 15 days. If the encroachers failed to meet the deadline, action would be taken against them legally and administratively, thundered the Chandy Government. Well, more than two months have passed. The encroachers continue to hold on to the encroached land. The Government is luxuriating in its masterly inaction!

Yet another ‘notable achievement’ of the government was the suspension, post haste, of the MA Nizar Commission which probed the Kasargod violence. The reason: the commission in its report has blamed the Indian Union Muslim League of involvement in the violence and recommended action against them. Not surprisingly, the IUML did not like it; so, the government, which is critically dependent on the IUML for survival, meekly sent the commission packing.

The government also allowed the self-financing medical college managements to make a neat pile by failing to move the Supreme Court in the matter of selection of students for these colleges.

It would be unfair to say that the first 100 days were an unredeemed by any positive action. The rehabilitation package announced for the Chengara victims who had been deprived of land and who had been agitating for years, is a step in the right direction. But the agitators have made it clear that they would end the agitation only when the package is fully implemented. Similarly the government has promised to pay the salaries of thousands of private school teachers who have not been paid for years. The teachers have welcomed it but are keeping their fingers crossed. After all, the proof of the pudding is in eating. However, the bright spots are too few to relieve the gathering gloom all round.

The Chandy Government has also claimed to have put development on the fast track. True, it has taken many decisions quite fast; but most of them are embroiled in controversies. The Government would do well to think twice before it goes ahead with controversial decisions. No doubt, speed thrills but kills!

During this 100-day period, the government also came dangerously close to being voted out in the assembly thanks to poor floor management by the ruling front.

Also, there is a question mark over the longevity of the government, with chief minister Oommen Chandy himself finding himself in the eye of a political storm. Chandy’s predicament has come in the wake of the vigilance court’s order to reinvestigate his role - Chandy was the finance minister in the K Karunakaran government which okayed the oil import deal in the 1990s - in the palmolein import case The opposition has asked for his resignation pending the reinvestigation. The court has asked for a report within three months. Needless to say, the case is hanging over the Chandy government like the proverbial Damocles sword. At the risk of sounding hyperbolic, it must be said that the UDF Government is lurching precariously from controversy to controversy. It has lived dangerously during the first 100 days and is still surviving. That is its one and only solid achievement! (IPA Service)