Change in communication style needed to mobilise youth: Thomas Isaac

Senior CPI(M) leader T.M. Thomas Isaac has called for a change in the style of communication of the party in tune with the changing times.

The CPI(M) central committee member and former State Finance Minister said it would not be possible to mobilise the young workforce in traditional ways. He was speaking at a discussion on ‘Mission Privatisation: The Corporate Budget’, organised by the EMS Study and Research Centre here on Monday.

Hitting hard on the alleged pro-privatisation moves proposed in the revised State Budget presented by Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan recently, Mr. Isaac said the economic stance of the United Democratic Front (UDF) would lead to widespread protests in the State. He reiterated the allegation of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) that the Budget paved the way for sale of the State’s public sector units and the coastal mineral sand to private players.

“The UDF has won 102 seats and is in power. But within six months, the power equation in the State will change. The coastal belt is going to see not a small-scale protest. Do you think the coastal people will stand with the government? And the Church too? Whoever backed the UDF will join the protest front. The Budget has signalled such a scenario,” he said.

He, however, pointed out the lapses in the party’s communication strategies. “We also have to learn to act and behave as per the changing times,” Mr. Isaac said.

Stressing his point, he cited that around 60%-70% of factory workers in Kerala are below 44. “They are millennials. Not oldies like us. It’s not possible to mobilise them in the traditional way. In PSUs, 90% of workforce is already unionised and around 60%-70% in the organised industries too. But in the new generation sectors, only 10% [is mobilised]. Kerala is changing. Our style should also change accordingly,” he said.

He added that the LDF was not against the private sector, and that the infrastructure development implemented by the Left government through the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board was aimed at attracting private investment. He, however, said the LDF was against the model of private-public participation proposed by the UDF government, which promotes private investors’ interests at the cost of taxpayers’ money.