Thiruvananthapuram: For a decade, Kerala became accustomed to a Chief Minister who wore authority almost like armour. Pinarayi Vijayan’s style was tough, centralised and rarely apologetic. And then, V.D. Satheesan entered the same office with a markedly different political grammar, more polished, conversational and seemingly more willing to acknowledge that governments can make mistakes.
That contrast gives added meaning to Satheesan’s message as his government completes 100 days, that it will remain open to criticism, correct genuine mistakes, but will not yield to pressure from vested interests.
“Hundred days is a short period, but we can confidently say that the government has moved forward with pride towards its goal of compassion and good governance,” CM Satheesan said.
It is a revealing statement from a politician whose career has been shaped almost entirely outside the Council of Ministers.
Since entering the Assembly in 2001, Satheesan had never occupied a ministerial berth.
His principal leadership experience came from the Opposition benches, where he served as Leader of Opposition from 2021 to 2026.
His first 100 days are therefore not merely the opening chapter of a new UDF government; they are also the first real test of his transformation from an accomplished Opposition politician into an administrator.
The transition has produced a government that has been quick to establish a different public persona.
The opening of the Secretariat to ordinary citizens, reduction of police escorts and security arrangements and revival of the Chief Minister’s post-Cabinet press conferences have projected accessibility where the previous regime often projected authority.
The policy interventions too have given Satheesan reasons to claim early success.
The free travel scheme for women on KSRTC ordinary buses, abandonment of the politically explosive SilverLine project, creation of a dedicated senior citizens’ department, action against the drug mafia through ‘Operation Toofan’ and the appointment given to the daughter of former ADM Naveen Babu have helped build a narrative of welfare and compassion.
The Onam season provided another opportunity.
Supplyco’s effort to keep 13 subsidised essentials available, market intervention, welfare pension payments and enhanced benefits for ASHA and Anganwadi workers allowed the government to demonstrate governance where people feel it most at the kitchen counter.
But Satheesan’s promise to correct mistakes has already acquired practical relevance.
Controversies over appointments, delays in taking decisions and the government’s U-turn on PM SHRI have exposed the administrative inexperience of a Cabinet in which many ministers are new to office.
Decisions had to be revisited after criticism. This is where the Satheesan style will ultimately be tested.
Vijayan’s political strength lay in projecting an administration that rarely appeared to bend.
Satheesan is attempting something different: to appear firm without being inflexible, accessible without appearing weak and polished without losing political authority.
After 100 days, the experiment is still in its early stages.
The government has made mistakes, but it has also shown a willingness to correct some of them.
For a politician who spent 25 years outside the Cabinet, that may be the most important beginning of all.
Satheesan has inherited the office Vijayan dominated for a decade. His real challenge now is to prove that a different style can produce equally decisive governance.
(IANS)
