A major industrialization drive which would have generated 35,000 jobs in Kerala in the next three years suffered a setback on Tuesday as the business house which had signed the Memorandum of Understanding with the State Government declaring its decision to pull out of the project.
Kitex, a leading business conglomerate in Ernakulam district, declared on Tuesday that the environment in the State is not conducive for business operations. “The State administration does not have a business friendly attitude and Kerala is neither investment friendly nor a State which encourages entrepreneurs,” said Sabu Jacob, the young chairman of the Kitex Group.
He was in the news recently when he charged that various departments of the State administration were harassing him on a daily basis with raids and inspections on the factory premises. “My employees numbering around 12,000 suspect me because of these raids. They feel that I have done some crimes for which the police are investigating and this has become unbearable,” Jacob told reporters.
It was in January 2020 the Kitex Group signed the MoU with Kerala Government for investing Rs 3500 crore in the State to set up environment friendly industries like apparel parks in various districts. According to Jacob, the local MLA supported by the CPI(M) is on a mission to demolish his industrial group.
P V Sreenijin, the legislator representing Kunnathunadu assembly constituency told reporters that the raids held at Kitex Ltd were at the order of the Kerala High Court. But Jacob said the officials who led the raiding parties had told him that the raids were as per the diktats issued from Thiruvananthapuram.
“Each time a cavalcade of cars and jeeps of the State administration are driven into the factory premises and all employees are subjected to the worst kind of interrogation. Till date they have not issued any notes to us about the findings. We have been functioning for the last 26 years by observing all norms and procedures. Every month various departments ranging from factories and boilers to environmental safety conduct examinations here and we are cooperating with them,” said Jacob. A release issued by Jacob media read more like a suicide note. The State has seen more than a dozen entrepreneurs resorting to the extreme measure in the last three years.
Sreenijin, who has declared an open war against the Kitex Group is no ordinary MLA. He was handpicked by Rahul Gandhi to be a Congress candidate in the 2014 Lok Sabha election from Kerala, but he preferred to sail with the CPI(M) who got him elected to the legislative assembly in the 2021 assembly election. Above all, he is the favourite son-in-law of K G Balakrishnan , the former Chief Justice of India.
The MLA did not respond to many telephone calls. But representatives of trade and industries told The Pioneer on condition of anonymity that there was something more that remains invisible to naked eyes. “Kerala at no point of time has been an investor friendly State. This is the only State in India where entrepreneurs commit suicide,” said leader of an industries body at Kochi who did not want his name to be quoted.
Sabu Jacob pointed out that in the 29 member list of investor friendly States in India, Kerala figures in the 28th position while the 29th State in the table is Tripura. “Uttar Pradesh has shot up to the second position as the most favoured destination. Why it is like this?” asked an exasperated Jacob.
Stanley Sebastian, entrepreneur and a close friend of Sabu Jacob said that this was not an isolated incident. “Groups like V-Guards, Synthite, MRF have already moved out of the State. The strange coincidence is that all these groups are owned by Christian entrepreneurs. One has to think seriously whether this is part of an ethnic cleansing process,” said Sebastian.
