Anvar’s pledge of 1,000 homes sparks wave of hope across Chelakkara, galvanises supporters

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Chelakkara: For 36-year-old Smisha K S, Nilambur MLA P V Anvar is nothing short of a godsend. On Sunday, she visited the office of Anvar's Democratic Movement of Kerala (DMK) near the Chelakkara bus stand, hopeful after hearing his promise to build 1,000 houses for homeless families in the Assembly constituency. Smisha, desperate for a safe place to live, was the 498th applicant from the Chelakkara grama panchayat.
Now, she lives in a one-room shed in Anthimahakalan Kavu (Ward 13), 2.5 km from Chelakkara bus stand, with her husband, Satheesh V, a house painter, and their two children, Nivedya (14) and Gokul (12). The shed’s unplastered walls have become a haven for venomous snakes. "Every two weeks, we find a snake in our house. Snakes such as vipers and kraits. Last month, my daughter touched a krait while switching on the light at 3 am to use the toilet," she says.

Last week, the family woke up to find a two-foot-long snakeskin shed on the wall. "Our house is unsafe. But the panchayat denies us a house saying I am the youngest applicant and so will be considered last," says Smisha.
Before Smisha, DMK volunteers were helping Zainaba, 50, complete her application for a house. She lives with her son in a crumbling one-room house at Nattianchira in Ward 4 of the Chelakkara panchayat. Her husband had deserted her.
Nabeesa (53), the 500th applicant, says she applied for two houses — one for herself at Kondazhy panchayat and one for her 32-year-old daughter living in Pazhayannur panchayat. Nabeesa has been living alone in a dilapidated, unplastered one-room house for the past five years. "I am tired of repeatedly applying for a house with the panchayat," she says.

A Christian pastor, who did not wish to be identified, turned up with 60 applications for houses after the Sunday service. One of his applicants lives in a cowshed.
Anvar’s DMK has set up offices in all nine grama panchayats within the Chelakkara Assembly constituency specifically to receive applications for houses. "As on Sunday noon, we have received around 500 applications in each of the nine offices. That's 4,500 applications already," says Faisal K M (45), a native of Kannur's Pazhayangadi. Faisal is a restaurant owner and trader of packaged food in Dubai and Mozambique and has come to Chelakkara to campaign for Anvar's independent candidate, Sudheer NK (59) in Chelakkara.
The overwhelming response to DMK's housing scheme announced just five days before election day, has boosted Sudheer’s confidence and rattled the LDF. "I would say the housing scheme has exposed the underbelly of Chelakkara and the LDF government's big claims of development," says Sudheer, a marine engineer from the University of London and former secretary of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee. He became Anvar's candidate after the Congress overlooked him for the former MP Ramya Haridas. He claims to have the support of the Kerala Pulayar Maha Sabha (KPMS) as well as sections of both the UDF and the LDF.
Sunday evening, as Sudheer took a break from campaigning, Onmanorama caught up with him in a cramped lodge room with three beds and an attached bathroom. The lodge buzzed with DMK supporters from various districts. "This is the room I share with Anvar and my secretary, Siyad," Sudheer says. His friend Hameed, sitting beside him, confidently declares, "We will get 25,000 votes."
Sudheer shut him down: "What are you saying? We are winning this election!" Hameed immediately corrected his assessment: "If we poll 40,000 votes, we are winning."
Sudheer says he and Anvar conceived the housing scheme after a woman approached him asking for a house. Her shed has no door, so she has used nighties and sarees for privacy. "She told me she has two daughters of marriageable age, and they were scared to live in the house," says Sudheer.
LDF's Chelakkara Election Committee secretary and MLA A C Moideen has already filed a complaint with the Election Commission accusing Sudheer of violating the election code of conduct.
Sudheer said legally, he was an independent candidate, and Anvar was free to announce any scheme. "We had to promise houses because of the failure of the LDF government. CPM's K Radhakrishnan was elected as MLA from Chelakkara five times. What were they doing all these years?"
Snakes in house & unlucky lottery seller
Smisha’s house is in a low-lying area, just 100 metres from the paddy fields surrounding Anthimahakalan Kavu, a well-known Shiva temple in Chelakkara. The road leading to the shed is only wide enough for two-wheelers. Her studious daughter, Nivediya, is immersed in her studies in a single room that serves as the kitchen, living room, bedroom, and dining area. When asked about the snakes, Nivediya says she is no longer scared. "The snakes come every other day. Last night, there was one coiled up near the switchboard. I thought it was a lizard," she says.
Smisha, a temporary assistant to a kindergarten school teacher, says she took a loan of Rs 90,000 from a cooperative bank in 2015 to build the shed on a six-cent plot her husband inherited. "The bank charged 14% interest and I ended up paying Rs 1.5 lakh and still could not close the loan account," Smisha says.

Recently she closed the loan after taking loans from HDFC Bank and Kudumbashree. Until last year, the family did not even have a toilet.
While the Chelakkara panchayat is keeping Smisha waiting, citing her young age, 46-year-old Ramachandran V, a lottery seller with heart and kidney ailments, says the panchayat approved his application but claimed it lacked funds. "I have been applying for a house since 2000," he says. His friends Satheesh and Radhakrishnan A (46) brought his matter to Anvar’s attention. "Anvar said he’ll do something about it. He’s a man of his word. He will make sure Ramachandran gets a house,” says Satheesh, a CPM supporter who has now volunteered to work for Anvar.
Sudheer says DMK volunteers have been working hard in LDF bastions with a majority Muslim population such as Vallathol Nagar, where 15 of the 16 wards are with LDF, and in Chelakkara and Deshamangalam. "We have pulled the rug under the CPM's feet. They will realise it only on the result day," he says.