Kalpetta: Pro-Left social media handles have launched a cyber campaign against residents of Mundakkai and Chooralmala after Congress leader T Siddique secured a sweeping lead in all four booths of the landslide-hit region. Survivors were branded “thankless” by Left supporters, who accused them of ignoring the CPM government’s rehabilitation efforts, including the Wayanad Township project.

However, survivors hit back, saying they voted for Siddique out of gratitude towards “the real humanist” who stood with them throughout their most difficult phase.

The cyber campaign began after the defeat of the LDF candidate in the Kalpetta Assembly constituency and Siddique’s huge lead in the four landslide-hit booths of Mundakkai, Chooralmala, Attamala and Elavayal under Meppadi grama panchayat in the Assembly election.

Siddique secured a lead of 651 votes across the four booths and an overall margin of 5,299 votes. “We had expected only around 2,000 votes. Last time, the margin was only 768,” said N K Sukumaran, former ward member of Attamala ward in Meppadi panchayat.

He pointed out that in the previous local body election, the UDF had lost the Mundakkai ward by just five votes, whereas Siddique secured a lead of 279 votes there this time. “CPM workers should understand that it was not UDF workers who increased Siddique’s margin. It was LDF cadres themselves who voted for him en masse,” he said.

“The region is traditionally a Left stronghold. If Siddique secured such a huge lead, it means even Left supporters voted for him,” he added.

Siddique leads even in CPM strongholds
One of the landslide survivors, Noufal T, told Onmanorama that the alleged harassment faced by Siddique during the key distribution ceremony held in Kalpetta in the presence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan influenced many affected families to extend their support to him, including in CPM strongholds in the disaster-hit region.

“Except for Siddique, all other prominent public representatives were merely visitors, whereas Siddique stayed with us from the very first day,” he said. “It was the fallout of their vicious attitude during the public function that triggered a shift in his favour,” he added.

“They now call us thankless people and abuse us online. What they should remember is that the benefits we received did not come from CPM funds or government funds alone. The state government supported us using funds contributed by people from across the globe exclusively for us,” he added.

Even LDF leaders from the region echo the voice of the survivors. Naseer Alakkal, chairman of the Janashabdam Action Council of the survivors, who had joined the CPM before the elections, told Onmanorama that the people of the Mundakkai-Chooralmala region had earlier defeated the Congress-led UDF in the local body elections.

“All four ward members from the region belonged to the LDF. If the same people have now voted for Siddique, it does not mean they are thankless. Rather, they are expressing gratitude to the man who stood by them in their time of need,” he said.

He further said that more than 200 students from the region were able to continue their higher education only because Siddique mobilised Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds from various business groups to support them.