This refers to Aditi Phadnis’ column “West Bengal’s Madame No” (Plain politics, November 12). Both women chief ministers in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu won with a huge majority. But their governments have lost their initial sheen. There were many expectations from Mamata Banerjee, but she has not been able to live up to them. The large number of infant deaths in her state’s hospitals is a matter of shame. Also, she was unable to tackle Maoists and the problem of power shortage. Nevertheless, the challenge for Banerjee is much bigger since she has to build a state that has been almost ruined by the Left Front rule. On the other hand, the task of ruling an already progressive state like Tamil Nadu is much easier. But Jayalalithaa, driven by vendetta, is busy reversing all the good schemes of the previous government. Compare this with the working of the Kerala government running with a thin two-seat majority — now reduced to one due to the demise of a minister. The chief minister’s stress on transparency and mass contact programmes serve as examples for others. In fact, the mass contact programme held in the capital recently (on November 10) is worth appreciating. It lasted for 15 hours in which the chief minister settled more than 20,000 grievances and distributed financial assistance worth Rs 60 lakh for medical treatment.
Jacob Sahayam, Thiruvananthapuram
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