THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Youth Congress woman leader Aritha Babu’s open letter to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan highlighting the cyber attack against her by the DYFI has gone viral. Twenty-seven-year-old Aritha was the UDF’s candidate in the 2021 assembly elections from Kayamkulam and was also the youngest in the fray.
Aritha highlighted how the cyber warriors belonging to the Left camp had been targeting her ever since she contested in the assembly elections last year. The Youth Congress state secretary’s USP in the electoral fray was that she earned her livelihood as a dairy farmer which garnered a lot of attention including that of the Congress party’s star campaigners, Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, who had come down to Kayamkulam for her campaigning. Despite putting up a formidable fight, Aritha was defeated by CPM’s U Prathibha by 6,298 votes.
However, that did not deter the cyber warriors as they went on bullying her on social media platforms. This led her to write an open letter to the chief minister on Sunday. Congress and UDF leaders and party workers shared her Facebook post widely.
“I have always been proud of what I do, selling milk in the neighbourhood milk society and local houses. Earlier when the chief minister also proudly claimed that he is the son of a toddy tapper, I too took pride in his statement. His own party workers have gone on a cyber campaign against me since the last assembly elections. Following my Facebook post, I got the backing of not only Congress party workers, but also from certain DYFI workers,” Aritha told TNIE.
After the assembly elections, Aritha has become a celebrity with people recognising her where she goes. The commerce graduate is unmoved by the cyber attack. She told TNIE that with her father N Thulaseedharan being unwell, the sole responsibility of rearing the six cows has fallen on her, which she is only too happy to do. On Monday, Opposition Leader V D Satheesan also rallied behind her condemning the Left cyber warriors for their attack on Aritha.