Kerala Budget 2026-27: Balagopal warns against ‘venomous communal snakes’ undermining Kerala’s unity

Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal used his 2026-27 Budget speech to deliver a strong social warning against attempts to undermine the “unity of Keralites.”

He said some powerful revanchist forces were seeking to eclipse the State’s welfare, development, and livelihood exigencies by trying to inject religiously schismatic and casteist identity politics into the public narrative.

Mr. Balagopal underscored that unity was Kerala’s “greatest treasure.” He said unity was Kerala’s greatest guarantor of growth, prosperity, religious harmony and peace. “We cannot imagine a better factor to attract foreign tourists, entrepreneurs and capital to our State,” he said.

In the same breadth, Mr. Balagopal cautioned society against “highly venomous communal snakes spewing religious nationalism and lurking to destroy Kerala’s unity.” He said the treasure of unity and fellowship was Kerala’s infinite capital for prosperity. 

Mr. Balagopal said Kerala had retarded the “poisonous elements” by erecting a shield wall of “love and unity.” He said divisive elements had not retreated or admitted defeat. “The schismatic revanchist forces are pursuing new strategies to communally divide, polarise, and subjugate Keralaties to bend them to their will,” he said. 

Mr. Balagopal said the Left stood for no caste, no religion, and no narrow-mindedness, but firmly for humanity. “Our slogan, unlike many, is not religion, religion, religion alone, but the fire of hunger in the stomachs of the masses,” he said. 

The Minister said the divisive forces had contracted a new set of so-called election experts to stigmatise secular forces, which rally against communalism. 

“Such stigmatisations will not deter us. We (the Communists) have been with the people for hundreds of years, spearheading struggles against imperialism, fighting for and enacting land reforms. Countless labour struggles have bolstered our strength. We enacted people’s planning, eradicated extreme poverty, vastly expanded the State’s social welfare net and ensured its development and a high quality of physical life. Hence, no caste or religious group is alien to us. Together, we are the Left, sir,” he said. 

Mr. Balagopal harked back to Kerala’s agrarian agitations by announcing a centre, V.S. Achuthanandan Centre, to showcase the life, struggles, and times of the former Chief Minister, freedom fighter, revolutionary, and leader of the iconic Punnapra-Vayalar peasants’ agitation. He also announced memorials and research centres to social reformers and renaissance leaders, Kavarikulam Kandan and Ayya Vaikunda Swamy. 

Mr. Balagopal showcased the injustice in the Centre’s strangulation of the State’s finances. “Only a united Kerala could counter the Centre’s trespasses on fiscal federalism, the jurisdictional and legislative authority of States, and the Union government’s failure to assist the State in times of disaster,” he said.