KANNUR: A 12-year-old boy was seated inside the Innova car behind the driver’s seat. Slightly leaning forward, he rested his head on the driver’s seat. As she stepped out from the car, V Bhagyavathi, 39, known as ‘Walayar mother’, said to her son Shibu, “Stay in the car till I return. Your father is here.”
Bhagyavathi is contesting as an independent in the Dharmadom seat from where Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is seeking the mandate. She reached Pinarayi Junction, barely a km from the CM’s house, around 10.30am. “I am here not to talk politics. In fact, I know nothing about politics,” she said. Her husband Shaji was busy distributing her election notices in shops at the junction.
“Yesterday, some people at Kadachira refused to accept the notice,” said Sunil Kumar Thekkan, Pattika Jana Samajam general secretary and member of the campaign team. At Pinarayi, there was no such hostility.
“I‘ve heard about the political sensitivity of the people of Kannur. Before tragedy struck my family, I never got to travel outside my village much. The people here are also humans, right? I am not afraid to speak to them. I have no hidden motives,” said Bhagyavathi.
She said people ask her what prompted her to come to Dharmadom. “The CM failed to keep the promise — that all the accused in the case will be arrested — which he made to me on October 31, 2019. He had also promised that the police officers who derailed the probe would be dealt with. However, the officers were given promotions,” she said.
Whether it is Walayar or Kannur, the pain of a mother who lost her daughters is the same, she said.“What happened to me should not happen to another person. I want justice and the people of Kerala should hear me demanding that. That’s why, I am contesting against the CM in his constituency,” said Bhagyavathi, adding, “I know this fight is pointless. Even compensation worth crores will not be enough for me as my daughters will not come back to life.”
After finishing the campaign at Pinarayi Junction, the campaign team set off for Venduttayi. As she got inside the car, she put her hands over the shoulder of her son. Remember, her name is Bhagyavathi (the fortunate woman).