Tamil Nadu elections: This CPI candidate has no money to refill his LPG

Marimuthu has been in political life since 1994, but his family still uses an earthen stove because they cannot afford to refill gas.
Marimuthu’s hut in Kaduvakudi village in Tiruvarur. (Photo| EPS)
Marimuthu’s hut in Kaduvakudi village in Tiruvarur. (Photo| EPS)

TIRUVARUR: Amid candidates declaring luxury cars, mansions, and crores worth of assets in the run up to Tamil Nadu Assembly elections is 49-year-old K Marimuthu, who does not even have a concrete roof over his head.

Marimuthu has been in political life since 1994, but his family still uses an earthen stove because they cannot afford to refill gas.

Marimuthu’s candidature from Thiruthuraipoondi, a reserved constituency, is part of the Communist Party of India’s idea to put the proletariat in power.

Marimuthu lives in a tiny hut in the village of Kaduvakudi. The roof of his hut was battered during the Gaja cyclone.

That was a good two years ago, but Marimuthu has not been able to save up enough to get it fixed.

He manages the situation by covering the damaged roof with a tarpaulin sheet.

It keeps his family safe from monsoon rains and summer sun.

Marimuthu’s wife Jayasudha is a farm worker. She has been cooking on firewood as their LPG supply got over a few days back. Marimuthu’s mother is also a farm hand.

She neither understands the post for which her son is now contesting nor its gravitas.

Speaking to Express she recalls how she and her dead husband spent a lifetime toiling under the sun to raise their five children four daughters and one son.

A chance for the poor to be on the other side of governance

Marim uthu has been CPI’s Kottur union secretary for the last 13 years. His political activity and public life leave him very little time to focus on earning the daily bread. His wife and mother take care of that.

“We own half an acre land that we cultivate. But that alone does not feed the family, so we work as farm hands for other people’s lands,” his wife Jayasudha explains.

“We bring in the money,” she says.

“He is always busy with public life. He cares more about people, and is hardly home. People too love him. He has a very good name in the surroundings.” Kaduvakudi villagers are thrilled after hearing that Marimuthu would be contesting.

They know how much family struggles to keep Marimuthu engaged in public life. Even his sisters, now married and living elsewhere, give the family money when they visit him.

“He is struggling to raise his two children. He still unflinchingly works for the party, often on an empty stomach,” says his sister Selvi.

“And that work has come to benefit many. If he is elected, I am sure he will do a lot more.” The locals cannot say enough good things about Mari’s kindness.

“He has helped many children and students enrol in schools and colleges. He never hesitates... His financial condition has also not stopped him from helping us,” says his neighbour Mariammal.

Marimuthu told Express that an NGO had given Rs 50,000 per damaged house in that village.

Then, why didn’t Marimuthu use that money to fix his home?

ALSO WACTH:

“There was another house in my village that badly needed fixing. They were not eligible for the compensation as they did not have patta, the land document, in hand. So I gave my money to them,” he says.

Then, when will he live in a better house? “I want to build a proper house. I will do it in future.” For now, Marimuthu has property worth `3 lakhs — including the broken house, farm land, and 2.5 sovereigns of gold.

Thiruthuraipoondi is considered a Left bastion, though the sitting MLA, Adalarasan, is from DMK. This time, with Left and DMK fighting as part of the same alliance, many here feel Marimuthu’s prospects are bright. But, where will funds come from?

“The party will take care of it,” say the cadre.

Marimuthu’s candidature is not about glorifying poverty.

Instead, it is a moment of reckoning for the electorate, that the poor deserve a chance to represent themselves as much as the uber-rich. After all, elections in this country, till date, are fought on the pro-poor plank.

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