Centuries of war have left their mark on Palakkad. It was through the Palghat pass that Tipu Sultan chased the East India Company’s forces to Calicut. It was through it that he returned to Mysore upon hearing of his father Hyder’s passing. Had he succeeded in driving the English to the Arabian Sea in the late 1700s, India’s history might have been different. Tipu’s grim legacy in Palakkad is his fort: a black granite mass which ironically houses the local jail. Palakkad was once the red fort which the Communists had held for six consecutive terms until 2019, the Congress party’s VK Srikanthan wrested it.
Palghat, which lies in the cradle of the Western Ghats, is a realm of legend. The purple-green mountains, their silhouettes fading softly into a sky laminated by the summer sun of Malabar, the endless emerald stretch of paddy fields and the black palmiras arching their slender trunks against the winds that race down through the Palghat Pass have witnessed centuries of strife.
This time, the CPM has deployed its old warhorse A Vijayaraghavan, a CPM politburo member to redeem its reputation. Vijayaraghavan’s grouse is mainly against Narendra Modi, who he accuses of introducing the politics of caste and religion to Kerala. The state is a bastion which Hindutva has been attempting to storm over the last decade, and Palakkad with its notable Hindu and Muslim population is high on the saffron list.
No politician can afford to ignore the tribal vote in poverty-scathed Attapadi.
Krishnakumar promises to bring drinking water to the mountainous region through the Pradhan Mantri Jal Jeevan Mission. He also vows to bring Modi to its arid hills to inaugurate the scheme. A tall promise. “Remember, water pipes are not meant to be dug into the ground and left to rot. Central funds must be used to give connections to the people,” says Krishnakumar. “Modi’s guarantee for a New Kerala is our slogan,” he says.
The BJP pitch hitter squarely blames the Left’s unionist mindset for Palakkad’s industrial debilitation. There are no jobs. “Communists strikers shut down major industries,” he says. “The Left has turned Kerala into an industrial wasteland.”
But the CPM cadres in Palghat have survived, and how. Metro Man E Sreedharan who contested on a BJP ticket in the last Assembly election recalls, “I was winning comfortably until votes in some panchayats were counted. They are Marxist strongholds. They had nothing personal against me; their sole aim was to defeat the BJP.”
Communist workers have set up speech stops every 2km; small and shady pandals sporting red hammer and sickle flags and can seat about 50 people. Vijayaraghavan’s speeches aren’t as fiery as you would expect. “The country has reached a dangerous crossroads. I know many Kerala MPs and have disagreements with them. None of them raise Kerala’s issues. When the CM (Pinarayi Vijayan) agitated against Delhi sidelining Kerala’s interests, none of them joined him.”
With Kerala’s pride at stake, Palghat is a fastness the Congress is trying to hold. It sees the Lok Sabha election as preparatory for the next Assembly polls two years away. Unlike the communists, the Congress cannot mobilise people to sweat it out in 45 degree heat. The temperature, however, doesn’t deter the Srikanthan who has a grassroots rep as a hands-on MP, distributing new clothes to Anakatty’s adivas or embarking on a door-to-door campaign.
Palakkad is a declared A-Plus seat for BJP, though Srikanthan perceives the campaign as a two-way contest between him and the Left. In spite of such fissures there’s no personal mud being flung about; if there is, it is local Congressmen maligning their own candidate. Though Tipu converted locals by the sword, slaughtering Nair and Ezhava fighters in the hundreds, his ghost haunts neither the sun-dappled village lanes where serpent gods laze under ancient banyan trees nor the glitzy new malls in town. A colonial relic that has survived for two centuries is a pedestal with five vintage lamps which stands at the Fort Maidan junction; it was built to honour an Indian Collector who died for his dignity. However, it will be known soon whether Tipu’s Fort or the Five Lamps are symbols of acceptance or travesties. In Palghat, history always shapes the winner.
The state is a bastion which Hindutva has been attempting to storm over the last decade, and Palakkad with its notable Hindu and Muslim population is high on the saffron list. No politician can afford to ignore tribal vote in poverty-scathed Attapadi