Opposition Leader V D Satheeshan made it clear on Monday that he is unwilling to let himself be carried along on the make-believe wings of flattery.
“I will not fall for such traps as the calls of 'captain' and 'leader',” Satheesan said when he landed in Thiruvananthapuram to a tumultuous welcome by Congress workers on Monday. Huge flex boards with Satheesan's face alone, and calling him the 'leader' and 'captain' have sprung up in the capital city after the Congress win in Thrikkakara. There were whispers within the party that the Opposition Leader was encouraging such idol worship.
Satheesan scotched such concerns the moment he landed in Thiruvananthapuram. “I am not a leader. We had just one leader and that was K Karunakaran. I cannot even presume to be his replacement,” he said.
Satheesan then called for the removal of all flex boards and billboards that had featured only his face. “If at all our workers want to erect boards, all leaders should be on it. This victory (in Thrikkakara) belongs to everyone. It was the result of hard work put in by everyone. All of us together rose up to the challenge,” he said. “My only job was to bring together everyone and to coordinate their activities,” Satheesan added.
After the Thrikkakara triumph, it was Congress MP Hibi Eden who first called Satheesan “the original captain”. This was clearly intended as a snub of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who, by the middle of his first term as Chief Minister, was called “captain” by the CPM cadre. Former MLA and young Congress leader Anil Akkara, too, called Satheesan 'captain' in his Facebook post.
This sentiment looked to be infectious and posters and banners depicting Satheesan as the messiah started appearing in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. Former opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, while expressing joy at the Thrikkakara victory, had said that there was just one captain for the Congress. “And it is P T Thomas,” he said. This was widely seen as a manifestation of Chennithala's discomfort with the growing hero worship of Satheesan, and also a reply to those who wanted to lift Satheesan to a high pedestal in the party.
Nonetheless, even on the day of the victory, Satheesan made it clear that the credit for the Thrikkakara win could not be claimed by the new Congress leadership made up of himself and KPCC president K Sudhakaran. He specifically mentioned the names of A K Antony and Oommen Chandy for their efforts, which he said took the Thrikkakara campaign to a “different level”. It, however, did not go unnoticed that Satheesan ignored to mention Chennithala.
The Opposition Leader also sought to rationalise the overwhelming support, bordering on hero worship, that he was receiving from the Congress workers. “They are just demonstrating their happiness. This huge victory, which has come after a string of despairing losses, has infused new confidence in Congress workers. What you just witnessed is merely a reflection of this newfound enthusiasm,” he said.
The opposition leader also served a warning. “As I have already said, this is just the beginning. We can make a strong comeback only if we work tirelessly and unitedly,” he said.
Satheesan also stepped up his criticism of the LDF government. “When they had important work to do like preparing for the school reopening and the imminent monsoon, the Chief Minister and his 20 ministers were there in Thrikkakara trying to defeat us,” he said and added: “The food poisoning of children in many parts of the state should be seen as the fallout of the LDF's abdication of responsibility.”
