Rahul Gandhi to address UDF's Padayorukkam rally in Kerala: Congress scion's 'resurgence' a boost for party workers

Congress president-to-be Rahul Gandhi will address a rally in Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram on Friday, marking the culmination of a month-long Padayorukkam road-show of the state’s Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala.

Congress leaders have a target of mobilising 100,000 workers for the Rahul show on the Shanghumukham beach, organised by the United Democratic Front (UDF) that the party leads in the southern state.

Padayorukkam in Malayalam literally means ‘preparation for the big battle’, which is 18 months away, and the party is planning a series of “agitational” programmes in the run-up to the national elections, to keep the party machinery well-oiled.

Kerala is vital for the party as nine of its precious 46 MPs in Lok Sabha came from the state – besides three from the UPA allies, Muslim League and predominantly Christian Kerala Congress (Mani), winning a majority of the 20 seats despite the double-incumbency in 2014.

In order to get the recognition for him as the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul needs to manage at least 55 seats in Lok Sabha, if not unseating Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the big battle.

Analysts feel the Nehru-Gandhi scion’s emergence at the centre-stage has raised the morale of party workers in Kerala, who are yet to recover from the worst defeat in last year’s state Assembly elections.

Before the start of the roadshow, the state unit suffered the “solar scam” stroke , with the communist government announcing criminal proceedings against their top leaders, including former chief minister Oommen Chandy and KC Venugopal, the Rahul loyalist AICC general secretary who is in charge of poll-bound Karnataka.

“Kerala’s minorities are keenly watching the rise of Rahul, challenging the unbeaten run of Modi for many years in Gujarat,” says political commentator Jacob George.

“The enthusiasm is there, and it is seen in the massive participation in the Padayorukkam (road-show), especially in the minority-dominated areas. The million dollar question now is if he would rise to the occasion,” George adds.

Muslims constitute 26.56 percent of the Kerala population and Christians 18.38 percent. Chennithala also enjoys the support of his influential Hindu Nair community, though numerically far below the backward communities like Ezhavas.

Rahul had campaigned in Kerala in the past elections as well, and the response from the people, as usual, was lukewarm.

This time, though, he comes with a new image and in an aggressive mood and the faction-ridden party in the state is also with a newfound vigour as reflected in the turnout.

Workers at the grassroots are elated at the tremendous response he had been receiving in Gujarat, where pollsters say the party’s fortunes have gone up ahead of the state elections next month.

“But the Kerala scene is not all that rosy for the Congress. The Kerala Congress (Mani) has already severed its ties with them, and the Janata Dal (United) is on the way out,” says George.

“The situation demands that the Congress needs to find more friends in Kerala. This is true of Rahul also. But what we see now is otherwise,” he says.

JD (U) state unit led by Rajya Sabha member Veerendra Kumar is reportedly planning to join the Left Democratic Front (LDF) of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) to ensure his seat in the Upper House of Parliament.

The socialist leader had made it clear that he could not go with Nitish Kumar and that he finds himself irrelevant in Kerala’s bipolar politics, where the Bharatiya Janata Party is trying hard to make a mark. He now faces disqualification and badly needs LDF support to get re-elected to the Rajya Sabha again from Kerala.

But strangely, its top leader and former minister KP Mohanan is very much part of the Padayorukkam team and its general secretary Varghese George addressed the rally in Kottayam the other day.

Both have denied any such move, but Kumar remained jittery at the possibility of losing the Rajya Sabha seat. The CPM has welcomed him with open arms.

The Congress leaders say Kumar, who owns the mass circulation Mathrubhumi daily and Mathrubhumi TV, will also join the rally on the Shangumukham Beach with Rahul.

The JD (U) had drawn a blank in the Assembly elections last year, though they had contested seven seats as part of the UDF. Kumar got the Rajya Sabha nomination after his defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Palakkad.

“The Congress is facing a lot of internal challenges. Chennithala appears to be attempting to marginalise a mass leader like Chandy which would backfire in the Christian heartland of central Travancore, notwithstanding the crowds he draws,” observes political analyst J Reghu.

“But the Rahul factor would definitely come into play as a feeling of insecurity is growing among the minorities and Dalits. Besides, unlike his predecessors in the Congress, he appears to be reaching out to the young leaders of marginalised communities like Jignesh Mevani. He engages with all sections of people at ease,” Reghu says.

Many Dalit activists also share his optimism. They see him more accessible who is ready to engage in a two-way communication unlike Modi or former leaders of the Congress.

In Kerala, Dalits constitute 9.8 percent of its population, but an estimated 70 percent of them live in ghettos, and the CPM traditionally controls them.

Though the Left-leaning media highlighted the roadblocks the show created in several places, much to the chagrin of ordinary people, including those taking patients to hospitals, students and office-goers, the party leaders are relieved that the show had not kicked up any controversy so far.

They say they had a well-thought-out plan before they started off and the leaders also engage in charity activities as it progresses. Similar shows of strength over the last two months by the BJP and the LDF had ended up in chaos.

BJP’s Janaraksha Yatra to save people from “red and jihadi terror”, kicked off by its national president Amit Shah, backfired as its leaders, including many Union ministers and chief ministers, tried to portray Kerala in a bad light in comparison to less developed states where BJP is in power.

The LDF’s Jana Jagratha Yatra to “expose anti-people policies” and “hate politics” of BJP and the “corrupt Congress” was split into two - one led by CPM secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan from the north and the other by Kanam Rajendran, his Communist Party of India (CPI) counterpart.

Balakrishnan was caught in a controversy when the proletarian leader was seen leading the roadshow in the Kozhikode district in a luxury car belonging to a notorious smuggler and netizens trolled his photograph relishing on a spread of Malabar’s non-veg delicacies.

In the southern leg, transport minister Thomas Chandy, who had to resign later over land-grab charges and the court admonition, took Rajendran’s stage in Alappuzha to attack his detractors in the government where he said he would continue to do so, drawing sharp criticism from CPI leaders.

Padayorukkam has covered 131 of the 140 Assembly constituencies without any controversy for a change, by the Congress party’s standards in Kerala, and entered the capital district on Wednesday.

Chennithala even posted his image on social media of having his “humble” vegetarian meal on a plantain leaf, apparently in reply to Balakrishnan’s feast with a wealthy family.

As one leader quipped, unlike it used to be, not only the stage, but the audience too remained full.

They had in fact feared the criminal investigation the LDF government announced on 11 October, the Vengara byelection day, against more than a dozen leaders after a judicial commission found them involved in a sex-bribery scam to take the sheen out of the show.

The case is related to a con-woman cheating three dozen people with offers of solar solutions and business proposals of Rs 6.5 crore, claiming her closeness with the office of the then chief minister, Chandy.

However, the crowd surged as Chandy, 74, arrived at the inaugural rally in the northern border town of Uduma and they carried him onto the stage on their shoulders.

He has been drawing good crowds wherever he went during the show, much to their immediate relief, but nobody knows what’s in store for these leaders as Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is known for his political revenge.

Former defence minister AK Antony flagged off the vehicle tour against the BJP and Left “misrule and price rise” on 1 November and many national leaders, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had already addressed rallies in different cities.

They plan a series of such demonstrations in the run-up to the General Elections 18 months away, with Rahul at the helm.

The UDF volunteers also launched a campaign to collect ten million signatures against the “anti-people policies”. They visit homes enlisting support during the campaign, aimed at recapturing the lost ground.

To their surprise, they received more than ten million signatures, far surpassing the total votes the ruling Left coalition, including the independent candidates it supported, won in the last year’s elections, which was only 8.5 million, if they are to be believed.

Congress supporters signed on pieces of 3.5-metre clothes with a width of one metre. They will take the shape of a banner to be handed over to Chennithala when he reaches their area.

Claimed to be the biggest signature campaign the country had ever witnessed, the banner would be 70 kilometres long when spread, and it’s not clear how they are going to display the serpentine banner.

Kerala Pradesh Congress committee secretary Thampanoor Ravi said they expect more than 100,000 people to converge on the beach to hear the Nehru-Gandhi scion on Friday.

He would address a “leadership meeting” at the party headquarters the next day and inaugurate the birth centenary celebrations of the late Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader Baby John at the Kerala University Senate Hall.