Loka Kerala Sabha: Scripting a new chapter in the history of democracy in the state

The Loka Kerala Sabha comes into existence. The sabha will be a democratic common platform for Keralites living across the globe. It will be bridge to the homeland for the Keralite diaspora. The Sabha became officially constituted on the 12th of January 2018 at the Kerala Legislative Assembly. The first meeting of the Sabha commenced with the declaration of formation by the Sabha Secretary General Paul Antony. Following this, he invited the Sabha speaker, P. Sreeramakrishnan, the Leader of the Sabha, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and Deputy Leader of the Sabha, the Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala to lead the presidium. Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan said that Loka Kerala Sabha is another exemplar for the world from Kerala. He congratulated the government and the opposition of the state for this innovative step.

The hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, inaugurated the meeting officially, and presented the draft for discussion. He began his speech with a line from a poem by Pala Narayanan Nair, that “Kerala is growing, into lands far away beyond the western ghats”. Invoking the great leader A. K. Gopalan’s idea that democracy is a space for social transformation, Chief Minister said that the Loka Kerala Sabha is the next chapter in Kerala’s quest for democratization. The Sabha will also be a space to discuss the various problems faced by Pravasi Keralites and will strive to find solutions to these problems. The opening day of the first day of the maiden meeting ended with a cultural programme that displayed the cultural prowess of the state