Wayanad: Rahul Gandhi is once again basking in the limelight with apex court staying his conviction in a criminal defamation case, over a 2019 remark on the 'Modi' surname at an election rally in Karnataka's Kolar.
Just as the the order paves way for Gandhi's reentry into the Lok Sabha, two orphaned children, Avani M B and Anagha M B, both residing at a corner of the Wayanad parliamentary constituency, Kerala, are jubilant.
Sabarmati, the house in which the two were living was constructed on the personal initiative of Rahul Gandhi MP at Kappunkara near Chulliyode, a remote hamlet near Sulthan Bathery in the Wayanad district.
“We were much sad when Ammamma (grandmother) told us earlier that Rahulji was disqualified as MP,” said Anagha, the older girl, a student of the Government LP School, Kurukankunnu, Chulliyode.
“We were praying for his return to the house as soon as possible,” she said, while younger sister Avani, a first standard student at the same school, looked up gleefully.
The children hoped Gandhi, who did not turn up for the housewarming ceremony of their home due to a warning from the security personnel back then, would visit their new house during his next trip as MP to the constituency.
They also pin hope in his promise that they would get a better road to their home. Though Gandhi had promised the children of a good road, the dream failed to take shape as his future as parliament member was hanging due to the prolonged legal wrangle.
“When the news regarding the court verdict spread, the children were happy; now that he is back and would be visiting us, they tell me,” said Savithri, sister of Rugmani, grandmother of the children.
Living earlier under the care of maternal grandmother Rugmini and sister Savithri, after the untimely demise of father Biju and mother Soumya, the children were under constant threat from forces of nature as well as anti-social elements in a temporary shed.
“I had to burn a lot of midnight oil guarding the children as we were living without a proper safety shield,” Savithri said. “It was Rahul Gandhi's intervention that changed our plight and ensured all the comforts and protection of a home to my grandchildren,” she added.
According to Pratheesh K S, a member of the people’s action council that took initiative to contact Gandhi's office with the issue, the comforts of the house were beyond their dreams and the works were completed within the time frame.
The idea of homes to the homeless dawned in his mind as memorandums for homes piled up in his office which was beyond the catering capacity of the MP fund, his office said.
With the help of the party machinery in the constituency, project Kaithangu was designed. Under the project, as many as 60 such homes are to be built; one in each panchayat of the constituency. As many as 31 houses are already completed; construction of 10 are underway and 19 are in the final stage.
