Rajiv is able to fool readers by providing data and details that are well suited to his pre-planned arguments. By making these observations, sitting possibly in San Francisco, he is making serious mistakes in concluding that backward class didn't benefit from the CPM-led reforms in Kerala. (I don't know about Bengal.) Though I am not a big fan of communists, anybody who lived in Kerala during the last 5 decades could easily notice that backward class people immensily benefitted from the policies of communist govts, starting from the land reforms. Before that the so-called forward class sudras practically had SC/ST (pulayas etc.) people enslaved for working in their farms and hugely benefitted from that free labor. The communist party rule changed all that and Congress had to follow the same policies. Though lots of SC/STs left farm work and entered service sector and govt jobs, and left the state dependent on migrant labor and other states for food, it is heartening to see that the state has become a model for social development.
Though any opinions can be expressed the columnists on this paper, when they started using data to score points, editors should check its completeness
