By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
Malappuram: In Perinthalmanna everybody is waiting for 13th April and 13th May – the two crucial dates for polling and counting respectively in Kerala; because the strongest fight of the entire Malappuram district is being witnessed in this assembly constituency. The main fight is between the sitting CPI (M) MLA V Sasikumar and the UDF candidate Manjalamkuzhi Ali.
R-L: Abbas, taxi driver talking to my friend at Perithalmanna, assembly constutuency in Malappuram
What makes this fight very adventurous is the fact that Sasikumar’s actual fight is with himself; the factor of anti-incumbency. It all depends upon to what extent he manages to escape from this crucial electoral phenomenon. Otherwise, from talking to several people from a cross section of society gave me an impression that except the possible anti-incumbency factor and a pro-UDF wave, Ali, Sasikumar’s opponent, doesn’t have much on his side. What stands out is the wide acceptance and popularity which Sasikumar has gained due to his work as the MLA of the area.
Poster of Manjalamkuzhi Ali with pictures of Sonia Gandhi, Panakkad Hyderali Shihab Thangal and Oommen Chandy.
Abbas, taxi driver, will vote for Sasikumar because he gets drinking water and electricity in his house, thanks to the sitting MLA’s work. Besides he finds Sasikumar to be an approachable person and somebody rooted on the ground realities which an ordinary person like Abbas faces on a daily basis. Abbas proudly claims that he has met Sasikumar several times. On the other hand Ali, who is a Malayalam film producer and has been visiting the area in luxurious cars, is largely seen as somebody who is away from the ground realities of life.
In fact Shamsuddin, an ‘athar’ (perfume) seller, calls Ali, who recently left LDF and joined UDF, a “power hungry selfish person who left LDF just to get an MLA ticket from UDF.” He says that Ali, who won from Mankada assembly constituency from LDF ticket last time, “won’t win if he fights from there again on UDF ticket.”
Malappuram Center of AMU in Perithalmanna
Another important reason for Sasikumar’s popularity is the fact that it is because of his sustained efforts that the AMU campus was established in Perithalmanna, which is a Muslim dominated constituency. Shabir Ahmad, a local reporter of Madhyamam daily, a newspaper ideology close to Jamat-e-Islami and thereby also pro-LDF, considers Sasikumar’s candidature to be “more strong and one with the possibility of retaining his seat.”
“Sasikumar’s huge popularity lies in the fact that he managed to bring and establish the AMU campus here,” says Ahmad. “More than 335 acres of land has been acquired for the AMU campus, that too without any single protest or any case of reported violence, which in itself is a revolution in Kerala,” adds the reporter saying that, “it’s all due to Sasikumar’s efforts.”
A Muslim woman walking past the poster of V Sasikumar and VS Achuthanandan. Small posters of Manjalamkuzhi Ali can also be seen
In spite of the LDF candidate’s good character and popularity, what complicates the electoral mathematics of this Muslim dominated constituency is the good performance of the UDF in the last Parliamentary and panchayat elections and a possible pro-UDF wave in the state. This is where lies the unpredictability of such a closely-contested fight between the two rivals.