Pathanamthitta (Kerala): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA)’s campaign vehicle is touring Kerala’s Pathanamthitta constituency, with its loudspeaker blaring the voice of Prime Minister Narendra Modi promising in Malayalam to “turn Sabrimala into the Ayodhya of south India”.
Situated in the central Travancore region, Pathanamthitta is known as the headquarters of pilgrimage tourism. Erumeli’s Vavar Masjid at the foothills of Sabarimala welcomes Hindus from across south India, trekking their way uphill to the Ayyappa temple. Also hosting one of Asia’s largest Christian conventions in Maramon, the district has been known for its communal harmony.
However, tensions rose in 2018 when the Supreme Court verdict allowed women of menstruating age to visit the Sabarimala temple. The BJP-RSS started protests against the implementation of this verdict, often turning violent and provoking clashes across the state.
Illustration: Pariplab Chakraborty
The BJP had already begun expanding the NDA’s vote share, from just over 7% in 2009 to almost 16% in 2014. It saw a further increase, capturing almost 29% of the votes in the Lok Sabha election of 2019 in the aftermath of the Sabarimala agitation.
The Congress had also joined the fray, organising protests against the entry of women into the Sabrimala, but did not appear to benefit as much in the 2019 election. Its vote share, which had declined from about 51% in 2009 to about 41% in 2014, continued to decline, dropping to 37.11% in 2019.
However, its campaign did manage to secure the support of many traditional believers, like 63-year-old Sarasamma, who is nevertheless wary of the communal nature of the BJP-RSS.
A worker under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) from Kalathattu in the Adoor assembly constituency of Pathanamthitta, Sarasamma expressed her disappointment. “Last time, I voted for the Congress because they appealed to us to protect our traditional belief system concerning Sabarimala. However, I have not seen Anto Antony (United Democratic Front’s sitting MP) in our constituency since then.”
The decision of the BJP-led Union government to reduce the funds for MGNREGS has adversely affected the working population in the constituency. “I’m sure that if Congress had participated in the MGNERGA workers’ protest against the Union government, we would have supported them. But they seem more inclined to echo the BJP’s focus on temples and religion rather than addressing issues like employment, wages and poverty,” she added.
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The LDF, which has maintained a consistent position against communal politics and retained its focus on the bread-and-butter issues of the people, has also lost its Lok Sabha vote share, but at a much smaller rate than the UDF. From just over 37.26% in 2009 to about 32.80% in 2019, the LDF has lost only 4.5 percentage points, as opposed to nearly 15 percentage points decline of the UDF.
Having won a second term in the state legislative assembly election in 2021, marking the first time any state government has been re-elected in Kerala in over four decades, the LDF hopes to win the Lok Sabha seat by focusing on economic issues.
The rubber question
One of the largest rubber producers in Kerala, its cultivation is the central agricultural activity in Pathanamthitta and a key source of incomes in the region.
Seemanth George, a rubber farmer from the Ranni legislative assembly constituency of Pathanamthitta district, complained that the lack of a Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the rubber has made their livelihood precarious.
The LDF-led state government has stepped in to address their crisis, announcing Rs 180 per kilo in its last budget in 2024. The LDF has appealed for votes, promising that their MPs will struggle both inside and outside the Lok Sabha to secure for rubber farmers their demand of an MSP of Rs 250 from the Union government.
It has also promised to use the strength of its MPs to rein in the rubber cartels, whose monopoly has been suppressing the market price for the rubber farmers, even when the global prices of rubber have been on the rise.
The MRF, which is one of the largest rubber cartels, is known to have donated electoral bonds to both the Congress and the BJP. This has left rubber farmers wary of both parties. Union home minister Amit Shah’s ownership of Rs 1.3 crore worth of stock in the MRF has further heightened farmers’ apprehensions over political influence of the rubber sector.
Wildlife conflict
Wildlife incursion is another significant concern for the farmers growing smaller crops and spices in the region. Farmers often suffer crop losses due to raids by wild boars and monkeys.
Pramod, a banana farmer from Ranni, reiterates the longstanding demand by farmers to classify wild boars as vermin under Section 62 of the Wildlife Protection Act. The LDF-ruled state government has seconded these demands and requested that the Union government to make the needed amendments to the Act which falls under its purview.
Pramod questions the silence of the Congress in Parliament in the face of the BJP-led Union government’s refusal to meet this demand.
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This conflict with wildlife has been taken up by the Malayora Karshaka Samiti – which translates as high-range farmers committee – which has been hosting open dialogues with candidates in various areas of the constituency.
The anger felt by farmers at the failure to resolve this issue was at full display at one such recent meeting in Koruthodu area, from where the current MP, Anto Antony, walked out when confronted.
As the angry farmers became even more aggressive, NDA representative P.C. George and LDF’s Sebastian Kalathungal, who were also present at the meeting, had to call off the discussion.
Migration
Raju Joseph, who has over four decades of experience as an electrical supervisor in a Saudi Arabia-based construction company, talks about the importance of candidates recognising the contributions of NRIs to the district’s economy. Remittances sent back by these migrants play an important role in the local economy.
He urges the candidates to pay heed to the challenges faced by them, such as being preyed on by fraudsters posing as travel agents, promising visas and jobs only to run away with their money.
Despite high rates of education, the lack of jobs and institutes for higher education have skewed the demographics of the constituency as the young emigrate, and old people predominate the district’s population.
Recognising this as a problem across the state, Kerala’s former finance minister Thomas Isaac hosted the Migration Conclave in January 2024, where measures and proposals were discussed to halt this brain drain.
However, given the limited resources of the state government, there is a popular expectation that the Union government should contribute by providing a university and job opportunities.
A triangular contest?
Promising to work on these and other livelihood-related issues, Isaac, who is also a Central Committee member of the CPI(M), is contesting as the LDF’s candidate from the constituency.
UDF’s Anto Antony, a seasoned Congress leader who has won this Lok Sabha seat for three consecutive terms since 2009, is determined to defend his seat.
The NDA, whose vote share in 2019 had risen to only four percentage points behind that of the LDF and eight percentage points behind the UDF, is also making a bid for the constituency, fielding Anil Antony, who recently defected from the Congress.
He is the son of veteran Congress leader and former defence minister A.K. Antony and had previously held positions in the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) Digital Media and the All India Congress Committee (AICC) Social Media and Digital Communications Cell.
A total of 14,29,700 registered voters from five assembly constituencies in Pathanamthitta district and two of the nine assembly constituencies in Kottayam district will determine who will secure Pathanamthitta’s Lok Sabha seat in the polls on April 26.
Anusha Paul is an independent journalist based in Kerala.
