A bird’s eye view of the aggressive opposition by the Pinarayi Vijayan-led left government in Kerala to the leasing of Thiruvananthapuram airport might make anyone believe that since the government is that of communists, who are rather infamous for their brazen hatred for privatisation and non-state controlled successes, the outrage would be but expected. However, more detailed analysis suggests that no less than the political fortunes of the left government in the state are at stake when it comes to the subject of them losing control over the said airport.
In July, the Kerala government was rocked by the uncovering of a magnanimous Gold smuggling scam which found no less than the Chief Minister’s Office and Pinarayi’s now sacked Principal Secretary – M Sivasankar at the heart of the smuggling racket. Mind you, the Thiruvananthapuram Airport is where the said smuggling was routed through, using what the Customs and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence have called “blind spots” within the airport. The said spots, where there was no CCTV surveillance previously, became major locations inside the airport through which the accused smuggled the Gold. The Kerala government is perhaps voicing their unequivocal opposition to the Adani Group being leased the Thiruvananthapuram airport fearing exposure in the Gold scam.
Before the lockdown, it is being estimated by authorities that 25 kilograms of Gold were smuggled via the airport every day. When the racket was busted by Customs officials, a seizure of 30 kilograms of Gold was made. As reported by TFI earlier, the Gold smuggling racket was an elaborate ploy to finance terrorism in the country and that the money from the scam was being used to finance terror operations in the country and the Malayali film industry. According to the NIA’s remand note, Swapna Suresha and Sandeep Nair had conspired together to create monetary instability and destabilize the Indian economy by smuggling large quantities of Gold from UAE.
As the Thiruvananthapuram Airport is leased for 50 years to the Adani group, the security upkeep of the airport will also be diversified and solidified, with the government having probably no say in the same, making the smuggling of gold nearly impossible via the airport. Unlike previously when the smugglers were able to buy out security staff from the airport to further their devious plans, the same will no longer be possible as the airport gets leased to a private player. The mega Gold scam, therefore, will stand paralysed even more than it is currently, with no scope whatsoever of resuscitation.
The privatisation of Thiruvananthapuram airport may also, in the near future, reveal details about the Gold smuggling which the government of Kerala would rather want hidden. To save itself from such future exposure, perhaps, the government is doing all it can to stall the privatisation of the airport and is also threatening the Union Government with non-cooperation. The Kerala Legislative Assembly on Monday also unanimously passed a resolution urging the Union Government to revoke the decision to lease out Thiruvananthapuram International Airport to Adani Enterprises and urging them to instead hand over the management and operation of the airport to a special purpose vehicle (SPV), in which the state government would have a stake.
The LDF government of Kerala is meanwhile facing the fury of not only the Congress and BJP in the state but also that of the people. With election slated for early next year to the state assembly, Pinarayi Vijayan’s plans to make a comeback to the Chief Minister’s seat could very well take a massive hit.