Currently showing at Battle for Existence in Kottayam

At Puthuppally Church, the fiery April sun had not yet begun to fade even after five o’clock in the evening. According to legend, Saint George, a Roman military soldier who was murdered during one of the pre-Constantinian persecutions in the third or early fourth century, is the inspiration for the name of the St George Orthodox Church.

Nowadays, the chapel is more well-known for being the last resting place of Oommen Chandy, the former chief minister who is revered by his fans and supporters as a saint. A family on a pilgrimage route takes a picture at his tomb. The burial is flower-decorated, and at one end is a photograph of Chandy, sporting his signature disheveled hair and kind grin.

Assistant vicar Kuriakose Eapen reports, “We saw a large number of people flocking to Oommen Chandy’s grave immediately after his passing.” “Even Congress leaders who are not from Kerala have paid their respects by visiting the grave.”

Migrant laborers are working nearby. A high-mast light beside the tomb, estimated to cost around <7 lakh, has been donated by a well-wisher. The priest said, “Our goal is to finish the building in time for the annual feast’s flag raising ceremony on April 28.

The amount of people visiting the tomb had decreased, but since the Lok Sabha votes were announced, there has been a surge in activity.

Before beginning their campaigns for Congress, Kodikunnil Suresh, Shafi Parambil, and Anto Antony all said prayers here. Francis George, the UDF candidate in Kottayam and member of the Kerala Congress (Joseph) group, also visited before submitting his candidacy.

Along with him were the Puthupally MLA, several UDF leaders, and Chandy’s son Chandy Oommen as well as his wife Mariamma.

Last week, an unusual amount of people visited another tomb located around 27 kilometers distant in the St. Thomas Cathedral in Pala.

On April 9, the official Kerala Congress (M) faction’s leader, Jose K Mani, arrived with his wife Nisha and LDF candidate Thomas Chazhikadan, the current Kottayam MP, to offer prayers. This was the fifth anniversary of the patriarch K M Mani’s death. Francis George and P J Joseph, the head of the opposing side, showed up to Mani’s grave with a large group of party workers and laid flowers.

Puthupally and Pala are part of the Kottayam Lok Sabha constituency, where the two Kerala Congress factions are engaged in a power struggle. Thushar Vellapally, an ally of the NDA, is the third well-known contender from the BDJS.

As an astute observer of Kerala Congress politics, Dejo Kappen states that “this contest will determine the existence of the two Kerala Congress parties.”

He clarifies, “If the Congress candidate wins the nearby Pathanamthitta seat and Jose K. Mani’s candidate loses in Kottayam, it would mean the KC(M) has failed to bring its workers’ votes to the Left front.”

The KC(M) was an ally of the UDF when Chazhikadan became victorious in the 2019 election from the mostly Catholic seat of Kottayam. In October 2020, the party split out to become a member of the LDF.

Voters in Kottayam are split between communists and opponents of communism. It’s not a given that everyone will follow Jose just because he joined the LDF. According to Kappen, “KC(M) lost the Kaduthuruthy and Pala seats, where the party has the most committees, even though the LDF won 99 seats in the most recent assembly elections.”

Meanwhile, the campaign strategists for Thushar are using the slogan “Nammude Sahodaranu Oru Vote” (A Vote for Our Brother) to court the support of the Ezhava group. That may pay out handsomely for the NDA contender. P C Thomas received more than 1.55 lakh votes for the NDA in 2019, a significant portion of which came from Catholic voters.

This time, the CPM will lose a significant number of traditional Ezhava voters to the NDA. On a much smaller scale, the UDF will also lose the community votes. However, Kappen believes that the NDA candidate won’t get as many Christian votes as they did the last time.

Autorickshaw drivers are chatting animatedly about the three fronts’ chances for victory in the election outside the Ettumanoor shrine.

In the 2020 Ettumanoor municipality, the BJP won seven seats. According to Sojan (name changed), “If you look closely, you can see that CPM seats are intact while the Congress is slowly losing its base.”

George Mathew, the owner of a small stationery store in Uzhavoor, said that in the 33 years since he opened the business, he has not encountered such difficult circumstances. “There isn’t much business. There are very few customers in any of the stores on the street, he remarks.

Nearly empty are his shelves.

“Given that I know there won’t be any customers, how can I stock the shelves?” Mathew queries.

He continues, “My wife is a Plus-2 teacher, which is how he is surviving.”

For the two KC groups, this LS election really represents a make-or-break opportunity. For the Joseph group, which lost eight of the ten seats it ran for in the 2021 assembly elections, a victory would provide a much-needed lifeline. And if the group loses this encounter, it will be a long, dangerous ascent for the KC(M).

As Kappen puts it, “a question of life and death for both.”