What is the benefit to Rahul in Kerala contest | CPI Wayanad
“There is no INDIA alliance in Kerala; it’s LDF versus UDF,” says Annie Raja. Rahul, she continues, has choices in TN, Karnataka, and Telangana and should concentrate on taking on the BJP.
Annie Raja was declared by the Communist Party of India (CPI) on Monday as their nominee for the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala, which Congress MP Rahul Gandhi presently holds. Annie is the wife of CPI general secretary D Raja and a member of the national executive of the party. This year, she will run in her first election ever. She has been active in politics since she was in school and currently serves as the general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women.
Even though the Congress, which won the Wayanad seat in the 2019 elections by an unprecedented margin of 4.3 lakh votes, and the CPI are members of the Opposition INDIA bloc, the Left party has openly urged Rahul to run for the next elections from a different seat.
She discusses her poll debut and the possibility of running against a Congress ally in an interview with The Indian Express. Take-outs:
You are entering politics for the first time as an elector after many years. What was your initial response?
Over the past 40–45 years, the party has assigned me numerous organizational duties. In addition, I have been organizing women and advocating for their concerns. The party has now assigned me a new duty.
Both the CPI and the CPI(M) are a component of the INDIA bloc. You are about to face off against one of the INDIA bloc’s front-line leaders in Wayanad.
For a number of years, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) have been the main political parties in Kerala. The CPI had run for the Wayanad seat in 2019. Wayanad is one of the four seats that the CPI has been awarded in the LDF alliance. Thrissur, Mavelikkara, and Thiruvananthapuram are the other seats. All of these seats were also up for battle last time by the CPI. There is no INDIA coalition in Kerala; it is the LDF against the UDF.
The India Alliance parties were extremely explicit in their stance when they held meetings, advocating for unity between secular, democratic parties and the left. Kerala was given an exception even back then.
Rahul Gandhi, a current Congress MP, will be your opponent.
I believe common reason will win out. Given that the candidates have been announced… What does Rahul Gandhi or the Congress stand to gain by running from Kerala?
The RSS and the BJP are the fascist forces that the Congress and the Left parties are combating at the national level. Thus, the Congress has numerous choices for a more secure position for its leaders. Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, and so on are only a few possible locations. In the grand scheme of things, what is the Congress’s politics? They will need to ponder if they are genuinely engaged in combat with these fascist forces. They have the right to do so.
When you challenge the CPI, keep in mind that it was questioned the last time as well. Congress offers a wide range of choices. We are not running for numerous seats. We are running for a very small number of seats.
Thus, Rahul Gandhi shouldn’t run for office in Wayanad?
That is not what I am saying. I’m trying to say this. The Congress or Rahul? I won’t accept specific names. Congress needs to be transparent about its political stance. Which would they prefer—the Left surrounded and vanquished, or the RSS-BJP vanquished? That is the query. The CPI is not the only one in charge of it. They had promised us two seats in the Telangana Assembly elections as well. However, they announced at the eleventh hour that a new member had joined from the Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) or BJP, and they had removed one seat.
Rahul Gandhi and D Raja, your spouse and the general secretary of the CPI, get along well personally. Does that equation make the election contest a little more difficult?
Our battle is to win the seat and overthrow the RSS-BJP when the CPI and the Left Front declare their candidacies for an election.
There isn’t anything nice or unpleasant about it. I may say that I have a pleasant and cordial relationship with Sonia (Gandhi) ji. There’s a good, amicable relationship even with Rahul. It is politics, not friendship, that is at stake here. The fascist elements of the RSS and BJP pose the biggest threat to this nation today. Both the Constitution and its ideals have been destroyed. They have, in effect, split the populace along religious lines. Thus, we must preserve this nation.
At first, your candidacy caused considerable discomfort in a segment of the Kerala CPI. Do you believe that you should not be viewed as a leader in and of yourself, but rather as the general secretary’s wife?
Since they were all my friends, I began my political career as a student at the age of eight, organizing tribal parents and urging them to enrol their children in school. It was decided unanimously to nominate me. When we debate something in a communist party, nobody is forcing their opinions on the other.
Everyone is given the opportunity to openly and honestly share their opinions. Ultimately, though, when the group decides on something, everyone agrees that it is in the group’s best interests. I’m sure a lot of things were discussed, but what was decided in the end? a choice on the candidates made by consensus.
