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| Congress president Rahul Gandhi is contesting 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Wayanad seat apart from his regular parliamentary constituency of Amethi. |
For many people particularly those in North India, Wayanad was a new word in their political lexicon when Rahul Gandhi 'agreed' to allow himself as the Congress candidate from this Lok Sabha seat in the upcoming parliamentary election.
For starters and believers, Wayanad has a significant place in the legendary history of the Ramayana. Lady Sita spent her final years here after Lord Rama deserted her unable to bear being mocked by a commoner, a washerman, now politically sensitive ones identify the caste among the Dalits. The actual place is Palpully in Wayanad.
Some of the activists or activist-type enthusiasts must have heard about Palpully. Due to recurring droughts, Palpully earned a dubious pet name of Vidarbha of Kerala. Those who followed last year's infamous Kerala floods must also have heard about Wayanad, which lost most of its remnants that could indicate any kind of modern-day development.
The slate of Wayanad is almost clean.
During the age of Ramayana, Sita, living-in-exile, gave birth to Luv and Kush, the twins inheritors of the throne of Ayodhya. Now, it is superfluous to state that Sage Valmiki, another Dalit by modern understanding, had his hermitage or ashram here where he gave shelter to Sita, ensured she had a healthy pregnancy and birthed the twins under proper care.
This janmasthan of twin princes of Ayodhya is relatively less famous but has a temple in the memory of Sita, Luv and Kush. The existing temple was built during the reign of Kerala Varma, better known as Pazhassi Raja, made famous by superstar Mammootty, who played the lead character in the 2009 Malayalam film, Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja.
Pazhassi Raja was a revolutionary and nationalist leader by today's standard. He was among the first in the entire country to take up arms against the British merchant mercineries. For 34 years between 1774 and 1808, he waged war against the British.
Now, a little about the geography of Wayanad.
Wayanad is a hilly forested district. It is safe to say that it forms a tri-junction of Kerala, Tamilanadu and Karnataka. This geography explains its political significance in the Lok Sabha election 2019.
Located in the Western Ghats, Wayanad could be the apple of any nature lover's eyes. It's one of the most beautiful places in Kerala. Reading about Wayanad's geography and looking at the pictures makes one feel that it could be a Shimla before its pristine beauty fell to the list of humanity.
And, the coffee lovers must love it if they already don't know that the undulating hilly farms of Wayanad produce one of the best, if not the best, coffee seeds in the country. Don't crib if you find out that big corporates have secured their stranglehold over the best coffee seeds here. But, Wayanad coffee can be very refreshing.
It seems now we can also slip in something on the economic state of Wayanad here.
If you have come this far in this story, your brain must have pictured an image of Wayanad. Let me tell you that the picture in your mind is not different from the actual. Wayanad is really a place outside time and history. Kerala's wheel of progress has simply bypassed it. It may be living the same comparative status as it did in the Ramayana age.
Wretchedness and backwardness are the definitive words to describe the economy of Wayanad.
Wayanad has one of the lowest per capita incomes, lowest literacy rates, poorest infrastructure and possibly the worst medical facilities in Kerala.
Neither remittances from the Middle East nor the local government's development schemes have come Wayanad's way.
True, Wayanad is the least populated district of Kerala but over 8 lakh people living here surely need enough schools, colleges, government-run dispensaries (private ones are less profitable, so, better doctors stay away), and also power and water connection. Saubhagya Yojana of the NDA government is yet make some impact in LDF-ruled and Congress-led UDF-coveted Kerala's Wayanad.
If you are still reading this, you must be thinking about the people living here.
As we all know, names give away, with only a few exceptions, the religion of a person. So, to cut a long story short, Muslims are in majority here. They constitute roughly 45 per cent of Wayanad's population. Hindus follow next with around 41 per cent. Christians might have outsiders believe that Kerala is a state of Christians but they are only about 13 per cent in Wayanad.
There is another division here. Tribal and non-tribal. You must have read about Malabar and the tribes in school text books on Indian history of British period. Tribals, cutting across religious beliefs, are 18-19 per cent. At this demographic density, Wayanad becomes the Kerala district with largest tribal concentration.
These indigenous people - many of whom must be tracing their history to the days when Sita, Luv and Kush learnt various ways and truths of life here at Sage Valmiki's ashram - still live in non-concretised houses, made of cane and clay. They mostly walk barefoot in the district.
And, finally let's talk politics a bit, after all this is the reason why Wayanad is being discussed.
Rahul Gandhi's poll promise of providing cash support of Rs 6,000 a month to five crore yet-to-be-defined and identified families will have many takers in Wayanad. In fact, too many. If one goes by the Socio Economic and Caste Census, 2011 - the latest available, the average income of the lead earner of in nearly 80 per cent families in Wayanad is Rs 5,000 per month.
The election promise is to provide cash support to every family with average monthly income less than Rs 12,000.
This means, if Rahul Gandhi becomes the prime minister after Lok Sabha election 2019, and stays true to his word, nearly 80 per cent families in Wayanad would get Rs 7,000 cash support a month from the government provided such a central government and the PDF Kerala government don't fight over the modalities of implementation of the NYAY scheme. If you don't know about NYAY, you are politically docile. And, it is almost certain that you wouldn't even google it. Maybe, some of you would do now.
This also means Rahul Gandhi, purely on the basis of poll promise, has every chance/right to win Wayanad Lok Sabha seat. The Congress has traditionally won the seat, which was carved out only in 2008.
But once he wins Wayanad, Rahul Gandhi would have to make sure he doesn't let Wayanad fall behind Amethi on the score of development. Many observers have stated that at the current value, Wayanad is better off compared to Amethi. However, if Rahul Gandhi wins both Wayanad and Amethi, he is almost certain to vacate Wayanad and represent Amethi in the Lok Sabha.
But if he decides otherwise, maybe taking a leaf out of Narendra Modi's 2014 poll book and stays as Wayanad MP, he will have, at the earliest, to put the district on the map of Indian Railways. Wayanad is one of the only two districts of Kerala that doesn't have railway connectivity. Google yourself to find out the other one.
One of the commentators has pointed to the state of roads or rather 'rod-ways' of Wayanad. If a car breaks down on a Wayanad road, it can delay your journey by hours should you be found tailing that vehicle. Clearing up traffic jam has never been an easy task in any of the Indian cities. Why should Wayanad be an exception!
PS: Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency is spread over three districts of Wayanad, Kozhikode and Malappuram and seven assembly segments. Wayanad and Malappuram have three assembly segments each.
Four of these assembly seats were won by UDF in 2016 state polls. Three others went to the LDF. Muslims and Christians, particularly of Malappuram are understood to be a vote banks of the LDF.
MI Shanavas, who won this seat for the Congress in 2009 and 2014, died in November last year during liver transplant in Chennai. Rahul Gandhi will need some sympathy votes, if the BJP improves its performance, to be in a situation of relinquishing.
