From social boycott to panchayat office, Aswathi's win answers father's struggle in Kollam

Kadakkal: When 28-year-old Aswathi Uthaman of Neela Cottage, Thrikkannapuram, takes oath as a member of the Kummil grama panchayat, her father Purushothaman will be watching from the audience- a moment that quietly vindicates years of social boycott, intimidation and alleged threats he faced after changing his political allegiance.

Aswathi, a Scheduled Caste woman, was elected from the Thrikkannapuram General Ward. Her victory has come to symbolise resilience for the family, which says it endured prolonged social ostracism after Purushothaman, a former CPM local committee member, joined the Congress. According to the family, the harassment continued for years, making even routine movement through public spaces difficult.

Purushothaman and his family recount that they had been subjected to years of social boycott. During election seasons, party workers would gather near polling booths to heckle him, tug at his dhoti, slap him . There were even instances where the road leading to his house was deliberately blocked.

Despite this, the family chose silence over confrontation. "There was a time when we lived in fear whenever my father stepped out of the house, until he returned," Aswathi recalls. "That was the extent of the threats he faced." Turning those acts of cruelty into resistance, Purushothaman set his heart on seeing his daughter elected to the panchayat.

Aswathi had contested from the Anappara ward in the previous panchayat election but was defeated. This time, though the Thrikkannapuram ward was a general seat, the Congress decided to field her from this seat.

She went on to secure victory by a margin of 19 votes from a seat which the CPM has long claimed to be one of its strongholds. Purushothaman, a farmer, had suffered injuries after falling from a tree a few months ago. Aswathi holds a postgraduate degree in Public Administration. A photograph of Purushothaman anxiously awaiting his daughter’s victory at the vote-counting centre in the Nilamel NSS College building had earlier gone viral.