Kerala Revised Budget ‘Inauguration Speech’ to Full Privatization: MV Govindan

Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) State Secretary MV Govindan on Saturday described the revised budget presented by Chief Minister VD Satheesan on Friday as a “launching speech” to full privatisation.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr. Govindan said that while the budget contained a plethora of projects, the question remained where the government would find the money for them. In short, the budget betrays the people of Kerala while trying to gift the state’s wealth to corporations, Mr. Govindan said.

Govt. staff

The budget has nothing to give hope to the youth of Kerala. For government employees, they are trying to disrupt salary revision and the option of surrendering leave, he said. “The chief minister claims to be a Nehruvian socialist. But closing down public sector undertakings and handing over their assets to corporations goes against the grain of Nehruvian socialism,” he said.

Major schemes in the budget, including the South Kerala Economic Corridor and the Rare Earth and Critical Minerals Corridor, Mission Samudra and Land Reforms 2.0, are designed to promote privatisation, the CPI(M) state secretary said. He also alleged that Mr. Satheesan, as Leader of the Opposition, had promised to fulfill the UDF’s election promise to increase social security pensions to ₹ 3,000 in the first budget. But the budget did not mention it, he said.

The UDF is destroying the left alternative that Kerala is recognized for. Instead, it promotes “right-wing privatization” and the looting of public wealth in all sectors, he said.

Published – 20 Jun 2026 20:37 IST