After the Kerala healthcare model stood exposed on multiple occasions in fighting the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic, the state’s newly elected LDF government led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan dropped health minister KK Shailaja from the cabinet. Hailed by the liberal media as the pioneer in tackling the menace of the virus when it first emerged in 2020, Shailaja’s PR gimmick took a massive dive in 2021 as Kerala continued to falter in containing the cases.
While media reports have suggested that Vijayan wanted a fresh cabinet in place for his new tenure — the fanboys of the left government have questioned the decision. From calling it a patriarchal move to a Stalinist purge, Vijayan has faced some flak for dropping Shailaja.
Typical Stalinist purge!
— Rohini Singh (@rohini_sgh) May 18, 2021
https://twitter.com/RantingDosa/status/1394571278569283588
Can anyone say they did not expect it? Women are great when they are accessories & shadows. The minute they show the slightest sign of overshadowing, they are shown the door. What gymnastics are comrades going to perform to explain why Shailaja isn't in? Unless it was her choice
— Dr Meena Kandasamy (@meenakandasamy) May 18, 2021
However, the Kerala CM appears to understand that Shailaja has been a massive failure after reaping some initial success. It is imperative to note that when the virus first emerged in Kerala and started spreading in states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh – the southern state was the least hit by it.
Based on such a small sample size, Shailaja and the left government started thumping their chest and claimed victory over the virus. Moreover, the so-called failed ‘Kerala model of healthcare’ was put forward and propagated by the leftists and their supporters in the media, on a war footing.
Such was Shailaja’s façade of hiding the reality that in June 2020, the United Nations invited her as a panellist at the UN Public Service Day. UK’s Prospect Magazine named her as the ‘top thinker’ of the COVID-19 age while the Guardian too published a long feature calling her ‘the Coronavirus slayer’.
However, the current grim statistics certainly do not endorse such fancy tags on the head of Shailaja as Kerala’s health machinery continues to stretch thin.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the state is continuously reporting cases over 25,00 daily with the maximum number of new cases reported in a single day observed on May 12 when the tally crossed over 43,000 cases. Yesterday Kerala reported 31,337 fresh COVID-19 cases, pushing the caseload to 21,70,651. Meanwhile, the death toll rose to 6,612 as 97 more people succumbed to the deadly virus
Owning to the high positivity rate, the Vijayan government has decided to extend the present complete lockdown in Kerala till May 23rd. Triple lockdown will also be imposed in Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Thrissur, and Malappuram, where the test positivity rate is high.
The Kerala government under Pinarayi Vijayan as CM will be sworn in on May 20. A total of 21 ministers will take oath on the day. The omission of Shailaja seems to have taken some sheen away from Vijayan’s coronation but in the long run, if Kerala wants to resurrect its image of a model healthcare state, her purge looks like the first admirable step in the right direction. In nutshell, her ouster has proved that the Kerala model was a sham all along.