Satheesan's "Mission Samudra" Is a Blueprint to Extend the Vizhinjam Model of Plunder to Other Ports: Dr T M Thomas Isaac

Thiruvananthapuram: CPI(M) Central Committee member Dr T M Thomas Isaac said at a press conference that Chief Minister V D Satheesan's "Mission Samudra" is a planned scheme to extend the Vizhinjam model of maritime plunder to other ports and sea mining operations. The UDF's ideology, he said, is that the government need only act as a facilitator, handing over the construction and operation of projects to the private sector.

He alleged that the Kerala government itself is undermining the credibility of KIIFB — which has proven it can raise up to Rs 1 lakh crore in loans without difficulty — through its own attacks on the institution. This, he said, will leave Keralam with no option but to depend on private monopolies for both funding and project implementation, eventually leading to the plunder of the state's resources and development potential. A prime example of this, he said, is Adani Ports selling less than half its shares in a company into which it invested Rs 2,500 crore, for Rs 13,000 crore — a tenfold increase in value within five years. Under the law, such a sale requires the state government's approval. The sale, he alleged, has taken place with the tacit consent of Chief Minister Satheesan — and was perhaps among the matters discussed during his chartered flight trip to Mangaluru. Company representatives, he said, have stated that the Chief Minister was informed. Satheesan, he demanded, must come clean on this.

Isaac said if Adani's Rs 2,500 crore investment grew tenfold in five years, it vindicates the Left's accusation that the Oommen Chandy government had created an opportunity for Adani to carry out maritime plunder. The Left had proposed a "landlord model" — where the port is built at public expense and a company is selected by tender to operate it and share profits. Instead, the Oommen Chandy government gave Adani 70 percent of the funding and land, handing over the port for 30 years without any profit-sharing — a deal the Left had called maritime plunder, a characterisation that has now been proven correct, he said. Isaac called for strong agitation to protect the state's interests.