Gopinath was appointed as the financial advisor to Kerala Chief Minister recently.
AB Wire
The leadership and allies of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) led government of Kerala seems to have taken a divided stand on the appointment of the Harvard University professor Gita Gopinath as financial advisor to Kerala Chief Minister.
While Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan defends the decision citing that the appointment is not a departure from the party line, several senior leaders of the CMI (M) and Communist Party of India (CPI) have raised questions on the political decision.
The central leadership of the CPI (M) has intervened in the issue after many prominent leaders shared the same view that the appointment didn’t stack up against the declared party line.
“I was not aware of this appointment. I do not know what exactly are the reasons for this decision. We have noticed various opinions and criticism surrounding her appointment. Maybe the intention was to get a diverse opinion about potential foreign economies. We will be asking the Kerala party on why this appointment was made,” CPM Politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
A native of Mysore, Gopinath teaches international finance and foundations of international macroeconomic policy at Harvard University and head of its Economics Department. She is considered as a strong advocate of neo-liberal policies, that are against the pro-labor line of thought followed by the communist parties.
“She belongs to a school of thought that considers financial sector as the real backbone of the economy…She had even made suggestions recently for India to implement privatization of public sector enterprises for a ‘transformative growth’. Even if the Left line has its own challenges in an Indian system, the impact of ideas such as freeing up of markets or financialization may be drastic,” another leader who did not wish to be named, told The Indian Express.
CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran said that the appointment of Gopinath would not have any effect on the policies of the government as its policies would be solely based on the election manifesto.
“The LDF government is going ahead based on the election manifesto, which will be the basic doctrine for formulating our economic policies. Our slogan is to formulate an alternative to the neo-liberal economic ideologies. There will be no deviation from that stand,” he told PTI.
However, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is unlikely to back off from the decision although there is rising criticism over the appointment of Gopinath.
“For us, she is one of the leading world economists with roots in Kerala. What is wrong in asking her views and opinions on the world economy and make use of whatever we want? As long as our stand is clear, there is no need for a worry on any departure from the party line,” Vijayan told the Indian Express.