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Why Should Pinarayi Vijayan Smile?


Why should Pinarayi Vijayan Smile?

The media has gone berserk because the new Chief Minister of Kerala is smiling. There is widespread feel of comfort that Mr. Pinarayi Vijayan has begun to smile. The 9 Pm TV debate appreciated the efforts taken by the new CM to keep smiling. Even the friendly visits around too are credited to the same smile account, with a broader lip spread. Somehow everyone seems to be coming around to the fact that he can smile and he is doing a good smiling job. Pinarayi Vijayan has been trending for a while on the media space ever since it was clear that  is he who will be at the helm of Kerala's affairs. Now the focus seems to have shifted to his face.

Now, what has smile got to do with administration and governance? Didn't smiling ministers of the earlier dispensation tell us that they are clean? Didn't we see smiling rulers assert that their globally advertised 24 hour surveillance cameras conked out when certain people walked into their office? Didn't smiling sirs acknowledge their ignorance of what conspired in the state when they were in power? Didn't the most smiling Chief Minister of the stage claim innocence over a missing engineering student ? Didn't a smiling leader shout from a southern roof top that his life has been a book more open than the one lying thus on a  dreamy student's table? Are we getting increasingly corporatised with wearable smiles and consumable attitudes?

Sure a mile can mean a lot. But we don't have to overdo it. A smile is a smile but it is just that. A smile. Pleasantness can fetch rewards in many ways. But a chief minister we all need to look forward to is not simply a smiling gent, but one who can deliver the goods. One who can be sensible and normal. One who is aware of the powers and, also, the limits of an elected leader. One who will not dilly dally for the sake of a group or a one who will not have the stupid nerve to effect the sale of acres of lake on the eve of an election. One who can value the taxpayers concerns and ire too. One who will be aware that the bus fares need not be retained as static even when the fuel prices have plummeted. One who be will be mature, sensible and other-centred. Smile or no smile.

Pinraryi Vijayan needn't smile if smile doesn't come naturally to him. For a leader like him, with the brand of reputation he carries, an image make over is patently unnecessary. I feel the effort taken to repackage Pinarayi Vijayan is doing him harm as it is understandably beyond his ken. Let him be his normal self. Let Pinarayi Vijayan be his normal serious self. Because the person we need to lead us is definitely a serious man. A person who is serious about the roles assigned to him. Serious enough to know that ruling a state is unlike running a corporation. Serious enough to weed out rotten eggs rather than enjoying the benefits of assumed public myopia. Serious enough to know that the people who are being governed won't keep their fingers and minds crossed for long.

The Kerala Chief Minster Pinarayi Vijayan needn't smile. Those who are working on it be deputed for other more pressing concerns. Kerala can do with a serious leader. A serious leader who knows his stuff and is not serious enough to know that life never is always serious. And, finally a wearable smile is the most fake attitude a genuine social sever can be held guilty of. Move on, media. Stiffen up, Pinarayi. 

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