The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
To regain a lost citadel, CPM relies on popularity of ‘teacher amma’
FROM POSTERS to social media posts, “teacher amma” is the central focus of the CPI(M)’S campaign in north Kerala’s Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency. The party’s candidate K K Shailaja “teacher”, the former state health minister, is popularly referred to as the “pride of Kerala” by her supporters and Left workers.
Even in Thalassery, the hometown of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and late CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan that comes under the constituency, the image of Shailaja who steered Kerala through the Covid-19 pandemic dominates the campaign.
In a video, Shailaja, a former high-school teacher, stands in a classroom and talks of the CPI(M)’S stand on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), explaining that the law “discriminates based on religion”. There is even a “dine with Shailaja’’ outreach programme through which voters have a meal with her.
The CPI(M) is depending upon Shailaja’s popularity to wrest back Vadakara that was once its citadel but has been won by the Congress three straight times since 2009, when Congress veteran Mullapally Ramachandran defeated the CPI(M)’S P Satheedevi by 56,000 votes. He retained the seat in 2014, but his margin came down to 3,000 votes. In 2019, the Congress’s K Muraleedharan defeated the CPI(M)’S P Jayarajan by 86,000 votes.
Shailaja, currently an MLA from Mattannur in Kannur, will take on Palakkad MLA Shafi Parambil of the Congress. The BJP has fielded BJP youth wing BJYM’S state president Praful Krishnan. The Muslim vote, estimated to be about 31%, may prove to be decisive in Vadakara.
The constituency, which votes along with the rest of the 19 Lok Sabha seats on April 26 in the second phase, has a history of political violence and the CPI(M)’S alleged role in it has dented its prospects in the constituency in previous elections.
In May 2012, rebel CPI(M) worker T P Chandrasekharan who started a breakaway party called the Revolutionary Marxist Party of India (RMPI) was hacked to death by members of the Left party. His wife, K K Rama, later took over the reins of the party and has been mounting a challenge to the CPI(M). She went on to become an MLA from the
Vadakara Assembly constituency.
This February, the Kerala High Court quashed the 2012 acquittal of two CPI(M) leaders who were the accused in the murder case based on an appeal filed by Rama.
Violence again became a talking point in the constituency on April 5 when a CPI(M) worker lost his life while allegedly making a crude bomb in the constituency’s Panur area. A dozen party workers have been arrested by police, who said the bombs were allegedly being prepared to be used against political rivals. The Congress has seized on the issue to target the
Left Democratic Front (LDF) government and held a “peace rally” in Panur on Wednesday.
People, too, discuss violence and say it has a bearing on the outcome of the polls. In Thalassery, Churaichundran,a teacher by profession, says the fight in Vadakara will be tough. “The young and the women voters are against violence in politics. Their reaction to the current developments would be crucial in the outcome,” he adds.
Another controversy erupted on March 29 when Shailja filed a complaint with the Election Commission (EC) alleging that