Do you think China poses any threat to the security of India? Do you support the argument that Chinese goods must be boycotted? Do you think China supports Pakistan’s cross-border terrorism in India? Do you think China promotes separatism in India?
The aforementioned questions have been prepared by the Political Science Department of Kerala University, for a survey which is intended to extrapolate the political affinity of people of Kerala towards China. The survey also sought to find out whether China is the most influential and important foreign country as far as Kerala is concerned.
The questionnaire was prepared by the Survey Research Centre of the Department of Political Science. It’s also mentioned in the questionnaire that the university will strictly maintain the secrecy of the inputs provided by the respondents. They also segregate the respondents in terms of their religion and caste.
Kerala University is governed by the CPM-dominated Syndicate. The Political Science Department of the university is also known to be a Leftist citadel. The allegations have already been raised from different quarters that the survey is a nefarious design of the ruling the CPM to project Kerala as pro-Chinese.
The survey is being conducted all across the State except Vayanad district. Political Science students from various districts have been tasked with the duty of conducting the survey. According to a Janam TV report, the questionnaire is not to be distributed among the respondents but to be filled by the students who conduct the survey.
Of late, the CPM state leadership has triggered a series of controversies after reiterating its pro-Chinese stand in party meetings held at the district level in Kerala. The Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan were accused of upholding the Chinese interests above the national interest. The political observers are closely watching the latest development in the wake of the calculated strategy of the CPM leadership, the reassertion of its pro-China stance. Giving more weight to the theory, the government has initiated various projects in collaboration of China, with a view to establish a parallel relationship between Kerala and China bypassing the Foreign Policy of India. The shrewd move of the CPM-led Leftist Government evokes panic among the nationalists in the state as the history of the great Communist betrayal in 1962 still looms over the CPM, the party which owes its very origin to China.
-Ganesh Radhakrishnan from Kerala
