“I was telling Venugopal (Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal) today when I was landing that whenever I am going to Wayanad, I feel like I am going to my house. Now I am going to pressure my mother to come here and stay here with you all for a week. I would tell her to come here for one month, but she has a slight problem with humidity. But, I told her that you are the most beautiful place on Earth,” he said during the roadshow.
This was not the first time he called Wayanad his home. Criticised often by his political opponents over his absence from Wayanad, the Congress leader always addressed the district as his home during visits.
Rahul won from Wayanad in 2019 with a whopping margin of 4,31,770 votes over his nearest rival P.P. Suneer of the Communist Party of India (CPI). The then Congress president garnered 7,06,367 votes, followed by Suneer with 274,597 and NDA candidate Thushar Vellappally with 78,816 votes.
Wayanad parliamentary constituency comprises three assembly segments each of Wayanad (Mananthavady, Sulthan Bathery, and Kalpetta) and Malappuram (Eranad, Nilambur, Wandoor), besides Thiruvambady of Kozhikode. The district of Wayanad, according to the 2011 census, has a sizable minority population.
However, this time around Rahul is contesting against senior CPI leader and the party’s national face Annie Raja and state BJP chief K. Surendran in the constituency.
Voting in all 20 Lok Sabha seats in Kerala is to be held in the second phase on 26 April.
With both the LDF and the BJP targeting Rahul on his infrequent visits to Parliament and his constituency, the Congress is also facing the heat from the electorate on local issues. These include instances of the man-animal conflict that resulted in multiple deaths in the district these past few years, and subsequently prompted a night travel ban.
Locals ThePrint spoke to even suggested that participation in Rahul’s public meetings is dipping.
Local leadership of the CPI(M) claims electing Rahul to the Lower House did not benefit Wayanad, while BJP’s K. Surendran says the Congress leader is on a ‘tourist visa’ in Wayanad, while he is on a ‘permanent visa.’
According to PRS, Rahul had 51 percent attendance in the 17th Lok Sabha (2019-24) during which he took part in eight debates. He never proposed any private Bill.
The local Congress leadership, on the other hand, maintained that they didn’t get any complaints from constituents about Rahul’s absence.
“Last time too, people voted for him knowing that he was not going to settle in Wayanad. They know that he is a national leader and he is the one leading the anti-fascist movement in India. They know that he is the leader participating in most events and public rallies across India. So, we don’t get complaints that he is absent,” said Samshad Marakkar, vice president of the Wayanad district Congress Committee.
Marakkar added that Rahul is always present in the constituency during a crisis. He also contended that Rahul visited the constituency over 50 times in the last five years.
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Congress campaign based on ‘performance’
Given that the LDF announced its candidates even before the declaration of the polling schedule by the ECI, Annie has been engaged in booth-level campaigning in Wayanad since the beginning of March. But this has done little to erode the Congress’ confidence.
According to the party, UDF workers across seats have been deployed for poll preparations in Wayanad and acknowledge that Rahul can’t focus only on one seat during the elections.
The party’s local unit told ThePrint that multiple squads have been created at the booth level for door-to-door campaigning. It added that in addition to Rahul and sister Priyanka, Wayanad will also witness canvassing by heavyweights including Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and his deputy D.K. Shivakumar.
“But whenever he comes, we hold mega roadshows in the constituency,” said Marakkar.
Rahul, who held a mega roadshow in the constituency Monday, also held roadshows in four other parts of the constituency this month.
The party said Rahul’s progress report is the fulcrum of his campaign since he was able to find solutions to many concerns of the people.
The Congress’ campaign pamphlet in Wayanad states that Rahul spent Rs 121 crore for the development of rural roads in Wayanad, catapulting him among MPs who made the most of Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) funds. MPLADS funds enable MPs to suggest and execute local developmental works based on the needs of their constituents. The pamphlet also credited Rahul with spending several crores on upgradation of Anganwadis in the constituency, besides focussing on the health and education sector.
According to Marakkar, the district got its first NEET exam centre through Rahul’s intervention since prior to it students had to travel to neighbouring Kozhikode to write the entrance exam.
‘Will overcome vote difference’: LDF
While the incumbent is seeking votes by highlighting his achievements as an MP, the LDF’s local unit said it was sure voters in Wayanad will analyse Rahul’s performance before voting this general election.
“When he comes to visit, even DCC (district Congress Committee) presidents have difficulty approaching him due to high security. He is not approachable at all. So how can a common man benefit from him?” asked P. Gagarin, district secretary of the Wayanad CPI(M) unit. Drawing a contrast, he added that Annie goes to villages and crisis-hit areas like Manipur and has a strong influence among women voters.
Many LDF supporters too voted for Rahul in 2019 as there was a perception that he was going to be the prime minister, which led to a difference of about 4 lakh votes between Rahul and the LDF candidate, said Gagarin.
According to him, the actual vote difference between the LDF and UDF in Wayanad is only around 30,000 votes, which was recorded during the 2021 assembly polls.
In the 2021 assembly polls, Congress-led UDF won four of the seven assembly segments in Wayanad, while the LDF won the remaining three. The cumulative vote difference between both alliances across these seven assembly segments was 38,776 votes.
“To overcome this, faults in the MP’s performance and the politics of the Congress are enough,” Gagarin said. He added that voters in Kerala are aware of UDF’s volatile political stand on contentious issues such as CAA.
“He (Rahul) is saying he renovated Anganwadi. What about railway? It’s the dream of Wayanad. What about night travel ban? His party is ruling in Karnataka,” asked Gagarin.
The reference is aimed at a night travel ban (9 pm to 6 am) in place on NH-766, which passes through the Bandipur Tiger Reserve. The ban was first imposed by the deputy commissioner of Chamarajanagar in Karnataka in 2009 but later lifted only to be reinstated by the Karnataka High Court in 2010. The ban was challenged by the Kerala government in the Supreme Court which formed a panel to look into the matter. Both the committee and the central government recommended continuation of the ban. In 2019, when the apex court asked the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change and the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) to suggest alternate routes so that NG-776 could be closed down permanently, the move had led to widespread protests in Wayanad.
Paul Mathews, a member of the Kerala Independent Farmers Association (KIFA), shared Gagarin’s views. Rahul has done nothing to resolve the man-animal conflict in the district systematically apart from giving funds for some projects, he told ThePrint.
“We expect an MP to raise these issues in Parliament and be involved in rulemaking,” Mathews said, adding that Rahul didn’t raise any questions when The Wild Life (Protection) Amendment Act, 2022, was introduced in Parliament. The amendment classified many animals including monkeys in the protected animals category, which prohibits humans from attacking them while animals damage farmers’ crops, he added. Mathews also claimed that KIFA members tried setting up a meeting with Rahul many times since 2021 in this regard through his local and Delhi offices, but their requests were met with radio silence.
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Rahul trains guns at both BJP & LDF
As for Rahul, he has in his speeches in Wayanad targeted both the BJP and the Left.
Addressing the roadshow in Sulthan Bathery on 15 April, he said both the state and central government have adopted a ‘step-motherly’ attitude towards Wayanad. He also claimed that he had written multiple times to both state and central governments sounding concerns on key issues including the man-animal conflict, but received no response.
“The night travel ban is complex, man-animal conflict is complex. But the demand for a medical college is not. I’ve written multiple times to the CM about it. But it’s being delayed. For the Kerala government, it’s something that can be done in all of two minutes,” he said.
Rahul also trained his guns at the Modi government, accusing it of posing a threat to democracy and secularism — poll planks highlighted by both the ruling LDF and the Opposition UDF to fuel anti-BJP sentiment.
“You can’t say one language is superior to others. It’s like every flower in a bouquet is asked to be all white. India is like a bouquet of flowers. Every flower needs to be respected. Why can a young boy/girl in a school be a leader? Why can’t an auto driver be a leader? Why this idea of one leader? This is the basic difference between us and them. We want to listen to everyone but the BJP wants to impose everything. We didn’t get Independence to be colonised by the RSS,” he told supporters Monday.
Annie has women’ support: LDF
Born and brought up in neighbouring Kannur district, Annie Raja has carved a national profile for herself as general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), the women’s wing of the CPI. “When people get to know her, they vote for her,” said Gagarin. He added that Annie will get the support of women voters in Wayanad.
Though it’s her maiden election, Annie has come to Wayanad after being the CPI’s face in New Delhi for several years. Booked for calling the ethnic conflict in Manipur a ‘state-sponsored’ one, she also emerged as a staunch supporter of the women wrestlers demanding action against BJP MP and former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, who faces allegations of sexual harassment.
Last week, one of the wrestlers, Olympic bronze medallist Sakshee Malikkh, extended support to Annie. To add to that, victims of atrocities perpetrated by the Joint Special Task Force (JSTF) established to apprehend smuggler Veerappan in Tamil Nadu’s Sathyamangalam forest have been campaigning in support of Annie across Wayanad.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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