“A politician should be loyal to his party and should not switch over to other parties for personal or political gains,” she says. The allusion is unmistakable. In Kottayam, the sitting MP, who won the 2019 elections as a candidate of the Congress-led UDF, is now representing the CPM-led LDF.
Three generations of this Knanaya Catholic family – orthodox Christians believed to have descended from the first converts of Apostle Thomas who established the initial churches in south India – reside under a single roof but their political priorities and expectations “vary healthily”.
Even as Joshy, Mary’s son, admits that the family has been a traditional supporter of Congress, Mary is quick to add a caveat. “We don’t take anything with us when we die, do we? So, let’s be open-minded. Let the better party always win.”
Joshy is a paddy and sugarcane farmer. The sprawling fields near his two-storey house is close to the Meenachil river. He has a pressing concern connected to that. Water had entered the first floor of the building during the 2018 floods in the region. “It repeats every year,” he says. “It is time that sand and silt in the riverbed are removed to reduce the intensity of floods.”
A bridge across the river close to Joshy’s house has remained incomplete for over a year. “Our constituency has been ignored for the last 10 years,” he laments. “Lack of funds is being cited as the reason.”
Knanaya Catholics began the trend in Kerala of settling abroad. Almost all youngsters from the community, many believe, are “either studying or working abroad”. In the beginning, they would make it a point to return to their native villages to lead a retired life. But, of late, they have preferred to stay abroad.
Joshy’s wife Juna wants the central govt to take steps to ensure the safety of youths who go abroad to study. The eldest son of the Philip couple works as a nurse in Australia. At the local level, Juna is concerned about attacks against children and the “increasing rate of suicides among them”. “Govts must pass stringent laws that can become a deterrent,” she says.
Children not getting “anything good at home” and being forced to go to foreign countries makes Baby Philip, Joshy’s sibling, anxious. Two of his sons have completed BSc nursing from an institute in UP and have set their eyes on going abroad. Both will be casting their vote for the first time.
“There is no point in staying back in Kerala. Where are the opportunities?” asks Abin, 24. “Youngsters are not getting into politics like they used to earlier. They should.”
Abin’s mother Elsamma, a homemaker, is mainly worried about the increasing prices of essential commodities. She hints that her vote would be for the party that will “work towards stabilising prices”.
As for Mary, she gets nostalgic when she speaks about former chief minister and Congress stalwart from Kottayam district, Oommen Chandy. “This is the first election for me without him. He was such an anchoring presence for all of us in these parts. I am sad he’s not there this time,” she says.
