JOIN USThese women highlight social causes over politics in Kerala polls
A 40-year old woman hailing from a weak background taking on none other than Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at his home turf of Dharmadom in Kannur district is one among the three women in the Kerala Assembly electoral fray sending stronger social messages than political.
While the mother of two minor sisters is contesting against the Chief Minister to protest against the alleged denial of justice by the government in the mysterious death following sexual assault of her daughters, K K Rema, who is contesting at Vadakara in Kozhikode, reminds society of political violence as her husband T P Chandrasekhar was brutally killed by a gang involving CPM local leaders to settle political vengeance.
The mother of the sexual assault victim sisters hails from Walayar in Palakkad district of Kerala. The Dalit sisters aged 13 and nine were found hanging in their one-room thatched house in a gap of around 50 days on January 13 and March 4, 2017. Medical reports of the deceased indicated sexual assault. The accused included local CPM workers. Even as a POCSO case acquitted the accused, the Kerala High Court scrapped it and the case is now under CBI investigation. The mother has been demanding action against police officials who allegedly scuttled the probe. She had even tonsured her head as a mark of protest recently.
Meanwhile, the candidature of former Kerala president of Mahila Congress, Lathika Subhash, who tonsured her head in front of the Kerala PCC office after being denied a seat, is a mark of protest against denial of adequate consideration for women in electoral politics by most parties.
“I am a very ordinary woman hailing from a weak background. I do not have any political ambitions. My decision to contest was just to get an opportunity to tell the society about the denial of justice to me,” she told DH.
She also opted frock as her election symbol as a symbolic gesture to remind of her minor daughters. Some rights activists are actively backing her. Though the Congress considered backing her, the party later fielded a local leader.
Hardly 25 kilomteres from Dharmadom is Vadakara, where Revolutionary Marxist Party leader K K Rema is contesting, with the backing of the Congress. Her husband Chandrasekharan, who was a dissident CPM worker, was brutally murdered in 2012 by a gang involving CPM local leaders, allegedly with the knowledge of party top leaders, owing to political vengeance. She is taking on LDF candidate Manayath Chandran of the Loktantrik Janata Dal, and Rajesh Kumar of BJP. Rema had unsuccessfully contested in 2016 Assembly polls and secured over 20,500 votes.
Lathika Subhash decided to contest as an independent candidate at Ettumannoor in Kottayam district after she was denied a seat by the Congress, even as Mahila Congress presidents were often given seats. Subash’s tonsuring of head in front of Kerala PCC office in Thiruvananthapuram as a mark of protest had caused much embarrassment to the Congress and the party came under criticism for allegedly sidelining women. She is reportedly gaining adequate support, which indeed is posing a threat to UDF candidate Prince Lukose of the Kerala Congress (Joseph).
Meanwhile, the state is also witnessing the Indian Union Muslim League fielding a woman candidate after a gap of 25 years. Noorbeena Rasheed is contesting as IUML candidate at Kozhikode South constituency.