Kochi: When Indian-American economist and Harvard professor Gita Gopinath was appointed financial adviser to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, numerous eyebrows had been raised.
Among those who questioned her appointment, many asked why the state chief minister who already has a legion of advisers needed another one, and particularly when the CM had in his own finance minister T.M. Thomas Isaac an accomplished economist.
Others asked why a veteran communist leader like Vijayan should plump for an economist from the United States, a nation whose economic and other policies are not ones that earn plaudits from the communist party. And many Left leaders thought the economics professor was seen as a supporter of the neo-liberal policies that the Left objects.
Now that her advice is flowing, including one last week advising Kerala not to rely too much on borrowing and instead focus on cost cutting, she is facing flak from Left leaders, besides being hauled over the coals by trollers.
“Stop borrowing and try to live within means? Oh, my, that’s such a great piece of advice. Did the Kerala government need a Harvard professor to give this advice?”, commented one, while another remarked, “Reducing the number of advisers will also help cut costs”.
Yet another person commented that she should advice the chief minister not to hire helicopter rides costing Rs800,000, referring to a recent incident in which Vijayan took a private helicopter ride to rush to the state capital from Thrissur, which cost the state exchequer Rs800,000.
In a more serious turn this week, the Communist Party of India, which is the key ally of Vijayan’s Communist Party of India Marxist in the Left Democratic Front government, also criticised Gopinath through an editorial in the CPI mouthpiece, Janayugam.
The CPI-owned newspaper commented that the state government ought to “be cautious” with regard to the advice given by Gopinath.
The newspaper warned that the “view that expenditures like pensions and welfare payments are unnecessary costs is dangerous”, adding that such steps have caused havoc in several western countries.
The CPI state secretary, Kanam Rajendran went one further on Monday, saying “Gita Gopinath is not the LDF’s adviser. Her advices are not government policies. The government implements LDF’s policies”.
