Defeat in Thrikkakara bypolls is a slap in the face of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
New Delhi: The by-election result in Thrikkakara, central Kerala, is a slap in the face of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. For, an ordinary by-poll following the death of a popular Congress MLA P.T. Thomas, was turned into a high voltage contest by the ruling Left Front with the chief minister, over 60 ruling front MLAs and half-a-dozen ministers camping in the constituency for 20 days, resulting in a frenzy built up by the local media. CPM leaders had vowed that their candidate –no party member but a fellow traveller handpicked by the state leadership with an eye on the minority Latin Christian community vote, a decisive factor in the area–would create history by winning the seat. Instead the party has snatched a historic defeat. It is significant that the defeat came on the very day the Left Front launched its month-long celebration on the completion of one year of the second Pinarayi Vijayan government. The campaign started off on the planks of development (read the 532-km SilverLine rail project linking Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod) had ended on a farcical note with the CPM leaders alleging Congress hand in the “development” of a sex video featuring its candidate. Neither the development of the video nor the government claims on its chief minister’s dream project impressed the electorate of Thrikkakara which has declared its faith in Thomas’s widow Uma Thomas, nee Hariharan. Uma’s victory margin of over 25,000 is the highest ever since the formation of the Thrikkakara constituency in 2011. Her late husband had won the seat, a traditional Congress stronghold, with a margin of 14,300 votes in the 2021 Assembly polls. And the opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front could breathe a little easier since it had miserably lost earlier two by-elections.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had told the voters that it was a golden opportunity for them to rectify a wrong, meaning electing a Congress candidate earlier, and help the Left Front complete a century in the Assembly. The front currently has 99 members in the 140-strong House and one more or one less member was not going to affect the fortunes of the government. Still the focus was on adding another member to its fold. But instead of a 100, the Captain (as Pinarayi is known in party circles) was forced to retire hurt.
But it will take a long time for Kerala to forget the communal campaign by bisecting voters on caste and community-wise unleashed by the CPM, the self-proclaimed guardians of secularism in the country. More dangerous, it may herald a new era in vote bank politics in the state. The front resorted to a caste/community-wise house-to-house campaign hitherto unseen and unheard of in Kerala. For twenty days elected representatives and ministers belonging to various caste/communities zeroed in on those houses belonging to their caste/communities. It meant a Syro-Malabar Christian minister/legislator would concentrate only on those households. So is the case with Ezhavas, other Christian communities and Muslims. It is said that as the campaign unfolded, the voters were so disgusted to see a minister’s or a legislator’s face while opening the door, they started refusing to answer door bells.
The people of Kerala are shocked to see such a campaign, that too from the communists whose claim to fame is rejection of power and position.
“The state CPM under the leadership of Pinarayi Vijayan has given a go by to all those idealisms and are now busy courting crony capitalists and propagating development by trampling on the rights of common man,” said one old timer in the party.
As for Congress, which was taken aback mid-way by the Left Front blitzkrieg, can heave a sigh of relief now that Uma has romped home with a thumping majority. The leadership was on the verge of doubting its own abilities and its allies in the UDF, raising doubts about the party’s abilities in leading the front. Congress can also credit that it has successfully stopped the SilverLine, the semi-high speed rail project linking one end of the state with another, in its tracks. The party has been on the forefront of people’s resistance to the project in different parts of the state.
Especially in the light of CPM and the chief minister holding on to the SilverLine as the one and only project that can change the face of Kerala and usher in development hitherto unseen. Despite all the bombardment, Congress can also take refuge in the fact that its traditional Christian/Muslim vote bank in central Kerala has remained somewhat intact.
The by-poll outcome has dealt another body blow to the state BJP which, this time, made an all-out attempt to garner Christian voters in Thrikkakara to its side. By supporting a maverick Christian politician like P.C. George who has no ethics whatsoever let alone a following in the community other than certain bishops , the party has sleep-walked into disaster of its own creation. The voters saw through BJP’s hypocrisy in eulogising George’s unpalatable remarks against the Muslims since an educated society such as Kerala knows how the Sangh Parivar is treating fellow Christians in neighbouring Karnataka and elsewhere in North India. No wonder its candidate and senior leader A.N. Radhakrishnan could get only 12,957 votes as against 15,218 votes the party secured in the 2021 Assembly elections. The party has forfeited its deposit, something the central leadership of the BJP may have to look at seriously.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is yet to react to the outcome of the by-poll. But what Kerala must be looking forward eagerly will be as to what happens to his pet dream. Will it be disrupted rudely or will Kerala be forced to live up to Pinarayi Vijayan’s dream. We will get to know shortly.