‘Third coming’: On last stretch of campaign at his record-breaking seat, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan sees rousing welcomes, flash mobs

At around 5 pm on Monday, people started making their way to the village square, where Vijayan would soon address an election rally. Around one kilometre away, party workers were heading to the village in a march — men wearing shirts with Vijayan’s face printed on them, and women clutching short cut-outs of the CPI(M) stalwart with his clenched fist in the air.

At the village square, TV actor Jayakrishnan was speaking about the achievements of the LDF government with regard to the development of roads and in the health sector, when an announcement echoed from a distance: “Our beloved candidate, Comrade Viayan, is coming.” The crowd began shouting slogans, welcoming Vijayan, and the actor abruptly ended his speech.

Vijayan arrived in an SUV. As he stepped out, party workers, still raising slogans, jostled around the vehicle, with many trying to capture selfies with the Chief Minister. His security staff quickly ushered him onto the stage.

Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan

Short address

After being garlanded by a local leader, Vijayan got directly down to business, addressing the crowd plainly: “Brothers and sisters.”

“We are in the last hours of the election campaign. People are looking forward to seeing Kerala surge ahead with development, along with the modern world. We know that 2011-2016 (when the Congress-led United Democratic Front, or UDF, ruled the state) was a dark period for Kerala. Kerala had collapsed then. In 2016, after people voted LDF to power, the state underwent a massive change. The LDF and the government went ahead with development and welfare. We went on to make great progress…,” he said.

He went on to speak of how the LDF government steered Kerala through crises. There was little variation in tone, no pauses for effect, and yet the crowd listened with rapt attention.

He accused the Congress of supporting what he claimed was the BJP-ruled Centre’s stance of financially stifling Kerala and not providing the required assistance.

“In the 2021 elections, people had decided that there should not be a gap in their journey with the LDF. If the UDF came to power, this journey would have been interrupted…,” he said. Expressing confidence of winning a third term, he went on, “The LDF has no worries about this election. The people are with us, and we are going to win the elections with a big majority.”

He ended the short address by urging party workers to carry his mantle in taking the campaign forward.

While walking back to his vehicle, the crowd again closed in around him with phones raised, each person eager to capture a moment of proximity. After Vijayan left, a group of women suddenly formed a flash mob — in a performance that was part of the campaign.

Vijayan, who has represented the constituency since 2016, is in his third electoral contest from Dharmadam, which sent him to the Assembly with a record margin of 50,000 votes. After touring the whole of Kerala and heading the LDF’s campaign, Vijayan is now in Dharmadam, spending the final stretch of campaigning as an LDF candidate.

Next stop

From Mylullimotta, Vijayan made his way to Kappummal, where, ahead of his arrival, a group of women performed a dance before the crowd that started filling the ground of a local school.

The upper primary school is a small building with a tiled roof. The only three-storey structure in the village junction was the CPI(M)’s local office, where huge cut-outs were erected with the tagline: “The third coming of the architect of development.”

Vijayan, who arrived half an hour after the scheduled time, largely repeated his speech from his last stop. When he said the LDF would increase the monthly welfare pension from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 once voted back to power, the elderly women sitting scattered in the audience burst into applause with beaming faces.

It was on Saturday that Vijayan began touring his Assembly constituency, attending 13 campaign meetings in one day — nine of them in the evening, mainly due to the scorching sun that beats down from late morning to afternoon. At every venue, party workers welcomed him with a two-wheeler procession. A large number of women and children thronged the meetings.

The election, set to take place on April 9, will be Vijayan’s seventh. In Dharmadam, a CPI(M) stronghold that Vijayan has represented for two consecutive terms, the Congress has fielded V P Abdul Rasheed and the BJP K Ranjith to take on the Chief Minister.

In 2016, Vijayan won the seat with a margin of 36,905 votes, and the victory margin rose to 50,123 in 2021.

“Our concern is only about how big his majority will be. He will become the Chief Minister for a third term,” said Pushparaj, a native of Kappummal.