Who is Annie Raja, fielded by CPI in Rahul Gandhi’s Wayanad seat?

In Thiruvananthapuram, which has been represented by Congress leader Shashi Tharoor since 2009, the CPI has fielded senior party leader Pannyian Raveendran. In Thrissur, where BJP’s celebrity face Suresh Gopi is likely to contest, the CPI has nominated former state minister V S Sunil Kumar. The CPI has named C A Arun Kumar as its candidate from the Mavelikkara seat.

Annie, who also serves as a member of the national executive of CPI, is the wife of CPI general secretary D Raja and one of the prominent party leaders in Delhi.

While there was no seat-sharing pact expected in Kerala between the Congress and the CPI(M) and the CPI, which are the constituents of the INDIA bloc, the decision to field Annie from Wayanad may put the Congress on the back foot.

Student activist to CPI central leader

Hailing from Iritty in Kerala’s Kannur district, Annie was born in an orthodox Christian family. Her father Thomas, a farmer, was a Communist. She quickly took to the CPI, joining its student wing, All India Students Federation, and later its youth wing, All India Youth Federation.

Annie led agitations for student causes and also took on the incumbent government. It was on the insistence of late CPI leader and ex-chief minister P K Vasudevan Nair that Annie became active in politics and took on more responsibilities in the party.

She went on to serve as the Kannur district secretary of the women wing of the CPI. At the age of 22, she became a member of CPI state executive committee.

She met D Raja through party work and they married in 1990. By this time, Annie had made a place for herself in the party.

The couple then moved to Delhi and apart from carrying on with party work, Annie took several odd jobs, and also worked as a teacher. She obtained a degree in education (B.Ed).

Later, she began to lead Left campaigns over various women issues and became one of its leading faces at various protests.

In 2022, when CPI(M) legislator M M Mani made an offensive comment against UDF-backed legislator K K Rama, Annie had hit out at Mani. While taking part in a debate in the Assembly, Mani had said it was Rama’s “fate to become a widow” following her criticism of the Home Department, which is handled by CM Pinarayi Vijayan. The LDF initially rallied behind Mani, but Annie maintained that it was “highly deplorable to make references to tragedies faced by women in life”.

“Such words should not have come from a Communist. We cannot accept the stand that anything can be stated to win a political debate,’’ she said.

Annie also took on the Vijayan dispensation in September 2021, when she charged “police inaction” in cases of atrocities against women, alleging that she suspected the presence of an “RSS gang in the Kerala Police”. This had created discontent in the CPI unit as it was hoping to not create differences within the alliance with the CPI(M). State CPI leaders were also said to be against a Delhi leader commenting on the Kerala affairs without consulting the state unit.

Annie has remained staunchly vocal in her criticism of the BJP’s policies and action.

In July 2023, she was slapped with a case in Imphal for calling the violence in Manipur “state-sponsored”.