By NNN-PTI,
Thiruvananthapuram, India : Despite change of guard every five years, Kerala state has maintained a sound democratic practice over the decades as perhaps the only state in the country where the Chief Minister interacts with the media every week after the cabinet meeting.
Whether it is a coalition led by the Congress or CPI(M) in power, the practice has continued unfailingly since early 1960 as a means to keep people informed of the major decisions of the executive, well before the ‘Right To Information’ concept took root in the country.
‘Cabinet briefing’, as the exercise is known among journalists here, is not a mere media meet, where government decisions are briefed and clarified, but often turns out to be lively interactive sessions between the chief executive of the state and scribes, where vital political issues are debated.
Whether it was late E M S Namboodripad with his stammering, C Achutha Menon with his matter-of-fact approach, Nayanar known for his earthy humour, K Karunakaran who punctuates words with winks, suave and softspoken A K Antony or die-hard Marxist V S Achuthanandan, no Chief Minister has ever said ‘no’ to the press since the days of Congress stalwart R Sankar, who started the practice.
Even during the dark days of the Emergency, when the press was put under shackles, the practice had been maintained in Kerala, thanks to CPI stalwart Achutha Menon, who was heading the Congress-CPI coalition in the state, recalls veteran journalist and political historian K G Parameswaran Nair.