KALPETTA: In hilly Erumakkolly, within Meppadi panchayat, a weathered wall at the erstwhile accommodation of tea plantation workers in Chembra Estate stands as a remarkable time capsule of Kerala’s political history.
While modern election cycles are dominated by digital advertisements, colourful photo-print posters, and high-definition LED screens, a hand-painted graffiti from the 1980 Lok Sabha elections remains strikingly visible on a building that now houses the Chembra post office.
This campaign artifact was created for Arangil Sreedharan, the United Front candidate, during an era when the Kalpetta constituency was still part of the Kozhikode Lok Sabha seat. Although the Janata Party’s symbol -- a farmer carrying a plough -- has faded into the masonry, the text canvassing votes for Sreedharan remains legible nearly half a century on.
The mural survived because the exterior wall was bypassed during various maintenance cycles.
Chembra Estate supervisor Santhosh V noted: “While the old five-room building underwent several repairs, the outside wall was left alone because it didn’t seem to need a makeover, unintentionally preserving it as a historic piece.”
The man behind the original brushwork, P P Hamza -- who was a teenager then and later became a full-time Congress party worker, currently serving as a booth president -- looks back at the work with immense pride. He recalled the fervent atmosphere of the 1980 battle where Arangil Sreedharan squared off against CPM heavyweight E K Imbichi Bava, who eventually won the seat by a margin of 40,695 votes.
“Years have passed but the memories of that election haven’t faded in my mind at all,” Hamza told the TNIE. “A few others had joined me in doing this wall writing. The voting age then was 21 and I wasn’t old enough to vote, but I was active in campaigning. Today, it stands as a witness to the political passion of that era.”