Betty Louis, the wife of MA Baby, the senior CPI(M) leader, had a laugh when Congress supporter Celine D'Cunha recounted the experience of her son Sheen. He had gone to a nearby pilgrimage centre in Kollam. As is usually the case, there were several beggars sitting outside. Feeling in a magnanimous mood, Sheen gave Rs 10 to a beggar. The man said, “I am grateful that you have given me the money, but you must do me one favour. Please cast a vote for MA Baby.”
It seems that even though he was a beggar, he was a Left sympathiser. “He was not only begging for money, but also for votes,” says Betty. “Just like what I am doing now.”
In Kollam town, Betty met a senior Congress leader and asked for his vote. The man said, “I will give it.” But suddenly Betty remembered seeing a photo of the leader with NK Premachandran, the UDF candidate on Facebook. So Betty said, “You are not being honest when you said that you will be giving my husband the vote.”
But the Congressman said, with a serious look, “I shall help you because Baby is my friend.”
Betty starts her campaign at 8 a.m. She is accompanied by her old Students Federation of India activists like Jaji Sunil, Vimala Teacher and Chintha Jerome. “The team gets expanded at times,” says Betty. Kollam Mayor Prasanna Earnest sometimes joins the house-to-house campaign.
Interestingly, Betty says that this time there are very few complaints. “Earlier, when we used to go to the town of Kundara, people would gives us a long list of complaints,” says Betty. “One reason could be that there is development, like the Techno Park, better roads and drinking water facilities.”
Since the LDF has always been strong in the labour-dominated constituency of Kollam, whose chief industry is cashew production, Betty's gut feeling is that Baby will win.
“There is a 99 per cent possibility,” she says. “But 1 per cent has to be left open. Anything can happen at any time. The party should work hard. The opponent is a good one. And the voters should decide who they think is the better candidate.”
As for the All-India election, now that the right wing, led by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, has put in a strong thrust, Betty says, “In the elections just after the 1975 Emergency, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was voted out. The people of India are wise and will choose what is good for the country.”
