On show in the Assembly on Wednesday was Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan's singular ability to give an urgency and a wider political appeal to even issues that cannot be linked to any misstep by the government.
Congress MLA Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan had moved an adjournment motion in the Assembly on Wednesday on the suicide of twins, Nazeer Khan and Nizar Khan, allegedly in the wake of recovery measures initiated by the Kottayam Urban Cooperative bank. The twins were found hanging in their bedroom on August 1. It is believed that the twins were shattered by the imminent loss of their property after they had defaulted on a Rs-13-lakh loan taken from the Cooperative Bank.
Thiruvanchoor focused on the dead twins and their orphaned mother. He said the bank officials had threatened the twins and had visited their house during inappropriate hours. He said this was done though both the Supreme Court and the High Court had asked banks to desist from any kind of threat while initiating recovery proceedings.
Thiruvanchoor also said that the bank had given a grossly inflated value for the land of the twins, eventually trapping them in a debt they could never repay. He said while the fair value of the land the twins had mortgaged in the bank was Rs 1.35 lakh a cent, the bank assigned a highly appreciated value of Rs 19 lakh.
Cooperation minister V N Vasavan dismissed Thiruvanchoor's arguments. Vasavan said the urban bank had acted with great restraint. It did not initiate recovery proceedings even 90 days after the twins defaulted. Law mandates that urban cooperative banks should consider as non performing asset loans for which repayment has not been done for 90 days. In the case of the twins, their loan became NPA on September 1, 2019.
Vasavan said the bank had sent the twins a recovery notice on December 20, 2020, seven months before their suicide. "So it would be a bit far-fetched to say that the twins had committed suicide because they received the notice from the bank," Vasavan said.
The minister also ridiculed Thiruvanchoor for suggesting that it was wrong to have disbursed the loan to the twins. The Congress leader had said an inflated valuation of the land saw the twins securing a high loan, which they, mere daily wagers, could never have repaid. Vasavan said the twins had given in writing that they had the wherewithal to repay the loan. Vasavan evidently relished the way he calmly made mincemeat of Thiruvanchoor's charges. A half-smile, which seemed almost like a demonstration of pity for his opponent, was present for nearly the entire duration of his reply.
Satheesan, on the other hand, began his speech by acknowledging the futility of blaming the government for a suicide. "Normally, a government cannot be faulted for a suicide like this, " he said. "But when a government refuses to listen to the problems of the poor, refuses to keep its eyes and ears open, it has to be put in the dock, " he said.
He then enlarged the scope of the problem from an obscure village in Kottayam (Kaduvakkulam) to span the whole of Kerala. He gave a greater profundity to the suicide of the twins by reminding the House of the "ten thousands of recovery notices" that are circulating all over Kerala.
"Ten thousands of recovery notices are reaching the poor from various banks. From nationalised banks, scheduled banks, non-banking financial institutions and cooperative banks," he said. "Recovery notices are being issued if there is a default of three months. Why is this happening at a time when there is so much devastation", he asked.
Satheesan called for the immediate suspension of all recovery proceedings in Kerala. He sought relief not just for the mother of twins but for everyone who had secured a loan and was struggling to repay during the pandemic.
The suicide of the twins suddenly became an issue that touched "ten thousands".
The cooperation minister had found it convenient to respond to just the alleged pressure-tactics of the urban bank, which he denied. Satheesan, however, wanted answers for larger questions.
He took the government to task for not trying to get a moratorium for loans. "Why were you reluctant to call a meeting of bankers to discuss the moratorium issue? A meeting was called only recently. You should also have been in constant touch with the RBI," he said. A meeting with bankers was something Satheesan has been insisting for quite some time.
Satheesan also upbraided the government for its post-election complacency. "You did reasonably well before the elections to ensure that the banks announce a moratorium on interest payments. But after your win you seem to have lost interest," the Opposition Leader said.
Not for Satheesan the overtly sentimental rhetoric that normal politicians resort to. When politicians attempt to present a tragedy in an over-dramatic fashion, the way Thiruvanchoor did while raising the suicide of twins in the Assembly today, it tends to rob the persuasiveness of their case. It could raise the suspicion that the politician is trying to milk a disaster for all that is worth.
Satheesan, however, is inclined to a more earnest style of presentation, his words unadorned by verbal histrionics but glinting with a sharp compelling candour.
He does not wallow in what has happened, his emotional appeal is dynamic. It would seem he is more bothered by the repercussions of the tragedy.
Like Thiruvanchoor, Satheesan also spoke about the twins and the old mother who survives them. While others would confine their appeal to the well-being of the bereaved mother, Satheesan seemed to expand the plight of the twins and their mother to embrace the combined suffering of repayment in COVID-decimated Kerala.
He said the twins had told their mother that they would be ashamed if the bank stuck the attachment notice on the face of their house. "There are hundreds of families in Kerala that think in similar ways," Satheesan said, transforming the Vazhakkulam twin suicide into a universal issue.
