Thiruvananthapuram, January 2 (NationPress) The Nava Kerala Survey, which is being executed by the Kerala government at an expenditure of Rs 20 crore, has been labeled as merely a tool for the CPI(M)'s political agenda in preparation for the upcoming Assembly elections, asserted senior Congress figure Cherian Philip on Friday.

He indicated that the choice of an 85,000-member volunteer team to conduct the survey was facilitated through local units of the CPI(M).

Philip contended that what is being touted as a government initiative is, in reality, a broad outreach program of the CPI(M), which endured substantial defeats in the recent local body elections, now being executed at taxpayer expense.

As part of this effort, pamphlets that inflate the government's developmental accomplishments are being circulated to every household.

He stated that had a truly impartial survey been carried out to gauge public sentiment, it would reveal a damning indictment of Kerala's developmental failures.

Philip alleged that proclamations like 'extreme poverty-free Kerala' and 'complete digital literacy' were based on manipulated survey data.

He further claimed that the second term of Pinarayi Vijayan has effectively sidelined several crucial missions that were part of the LDF's flagship Nava Kerala Karma Padhathi, including LIFE, Aardram, the Education Mission, Haritha Kerala, and Rebuild Kerala.

While events like the World Kerala Assembly and Global Investors' Meets were conducted to draw foreign investments, he alleged that actual industrial investments have largely remained limited to memoranda of understanding without significant follow-through.

Kerala, he noted, is experiencing a regression in agriculture, with falling production and productivity levels. A marked decline in educational standards has led many students to leave the state, while government hospitals have become 'dirty cattle sheds', forcing the majority of Keralites toward exploitative private healthcare.

He also pointed out that once-promising sectors like IT and tourism have reached a state of disarray.

Despite Kerala's total public debt reaching Rs 5 lakh crore, Philip remarked that there are no significant developmental projects to showcase.

He criticized K-Rail as a 'mere propaganda fraud', termed K-FON as largely ineffective, and stated that many public sector enterprises are facing hefty losses.

According to him, the government's primary funding body, KIIFB, has become a 'white elephant'.

Interestingly, Philip was a close aide to prominent Congress leaders like A. K. Antony and Oommen Chandy until 2001, when he left the Congress to contest against Chandy as a Left independent candidate, participating in two more elections under the Left in 2006 and 2011, albeit unsuccessfully. He returned to Congress in 2021 and has since emerged as a fierce critic of the CPI(M).