Small people’s collectives play big role in Kerala local body polls

Local body polls are about small margins; in the past decade, it has also been about small collectives. Much before textile major Kitex group’s Twenty 20 swept Kizhakkambalam and branched out to three more local bodies in Ernakulam, independent fronts have caused ripples across districts.

The ‘Swathantra Munnani’ in Ottapalam municipality, ‘We for Pattambi’ in Pattambi municipality, ‘RBC movement’ at Vadakarapathy, ‘Janakeeya Vikasana Samithi’ at Ambalapara panchayat in Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram Development Front have either rattled leading fronts’ plans or snatched the power.

This year, sensing trouble, the Congress and the CPM have managed to convince at least a few of the collectives to contest together. At Vadakarapathy, a village on the sun-baked border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, a movement for water launched in 2010, led to revolutionary changes in power equations. Jossy Britto, a farmer, went on to become the panchayat president in 2020. They had formed a collective to extend the length of the Right Bank canal, which brings water from Aaliyar.

In 2015 and 2020, the collective went to the elections as independent fronts and then struck a deal with the LDF to bag power. They got results. Phase 1 of the canal extension is nearing completion, and a government order for phase 2 land acquisition has been issued. Besides, the houses in the panchayat have received KWA connections.

None of the parties could not have brushed it aside it as a regional movement. In the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the RBC movement exhorted voters to boycott all the fronts and close to 22,000 votes were marked as NOTA in the Alathur constituency, arguably the second in the country to record such a high number of NOTA.

The collective has learnt to balance pragmatism with prudence. “We remain independent and showed them what we can do. At the same time, we need an understanding with those in higher realms of power to get projects implemented. This time, RBC will contest with the LDF in six seats,” said Jossy Britto.

Esther Princy, another member of RBC, said that nobody understands the need for water than the panchayat committee ruled by one of their own. “We are all farmers; without water, we can’t survive. Who else could understand our plight than ourselves? That’s what made the difference in the panchayat,” she said.

If RBC was born out of need, ‘We for Pattamby’ had a life of 5 years. T P Shaji, a former KPCC executive member who walked out of the party and formed the collective in 2020, became the president of the civic body in 2020. Now, he has wound up the initiative and returned to the Congress fold. “There was a need for that collective in 2020; now, circumstances have changed. It was primarily a group of Congress people with an independent character,” Shaji justified his decision. Shaji and his team will contest as Congress candidates this time.

It is not that easy for the ‘Swathantra Munnani’ in Ottapalam. Founded by former Communists like Prabhakaran and Prakashan master, the collective stemmed from a deep resentment towards what they called as the unhealthy trends in the CPM. Prakashan master, a former DYFI and local committee leader and other comrades were branded as Achuthanandan loyalists and censured by the party when the CPM was riven by factionalism. “ Our fight was against corruption, but we were punished for aligning with VS,” recollected Prakashan, who had been a party member since 1987.

The collective went to elections in Ottapalam municipality, Ananganadi panchayat, and Lakkidi Perur panchayat in 2010. They won six wards in the civic body and two in the Ananganadi panchayat. In the next two elections, they focused more on Ottapalam and has won two seats.

Roopa Unni, a councillor of the collective, said that two votes were often crucial in decision-making in the council. “Recently, the council made modifications to the plan document and sent it to the district planning committee, overruling our objections. The committee sent it back and they had to convene the council again and ensure our consent to get the document passed. Projects would have been stalled, had we not consented,” said Roopa. The collective will contest two seats this year, again as an independent front.

Janakeeya Samithi at Ambalathara has already launched family meetings to marshal support ahead of the elections. Vijitha, one of the members, said that all those who run the collective have independent political ideologies, but they are part of the front with the motto of development.

Not all such initiatives have a rosy tale to share. In 2020, the Thiruvananthapuram Development Front, led by industrialists, came up with an attractive tagline, ‘ You can also be a councillor of the Capital city’. The front had former CPI councillors like Usha Satish, and they contested in 14 wards. The collective came second in a few wards but didn’t leave an impact in other places.

Raghuchandran Nair, a former CREDAI member who founded the front, said that the objective had been met. “ We haven’t done away with the name. We gained 7 per cent votes in 2020. The parties approached us and held talks. Our demands in participatory governance are now being heard,” he said.

Political scientist G Gopakumar said that in Kerala’s deeply entrenched bipartisan politics, the survival of small parties is always difficult. “While choices are personal in local body elections, Kerala voters are highly politicised and their decisions are driven by major fronts and their actions. Also, to run a panchayat or a civic body, you need more than individuals. Funding is also a major issue. Hence, major fronts become lifeboats for small parties; at one point or another, they will have to board the fronts. This is why we don’t witness much progress in terms of small collectives,” he said.

Gopakumar added that Twenty20 may be a lone exception because of a different kind of politics and industrial clout. Twenty20 has declared that it will contest in various municipalities in Ernakulam and a few panchayats across Kerala.