The Kasaragod railway station was still sleepy when A K Antony got down from the Thiruvananthapuram-Mangaluru Maveli Express. The three-time chief minister is as unassuming as ever, clad in a crumbled khadi shirt and mundu. There are only a handful of Congress workers to welcome him but he is warmly greeted by the passengers on the platform.
Outside the station, his car is waiting for him with all the newspapers of the day. The former defence minister was in Kasaragod to campaign for the candidate of the United Democratic Front.
“I have chosen not to offer interviews to the media. Let the local leaders speak,” he said but ended up sharing his convictions about himself and his politics. He reminisced how he made his electoral debut in Cherthala.
As he reached the hotel where a room had been booked for him, a small crowd had gathered around the room to meet him. “Vayalar is close to my native place. The communists make fun of me as the child of the one-anna (a defunct unit of currency) agitation. I consider it a great recognition,” he said.
He also said how he led a roadshow from Kasaragod against the then EMS government. Antony has been a staunch Congress man all his life. He even shares his birthday with the party - on December 28.
Antony was soon greeted by UDF candidate Rajmohan Unnithan. A hectic discussion was followed by a warm breakfast. Former colleagues and party workers made a beeline to meet him. Among them was N A Nellikkunnu MLA.
There were a couple of surprise visitors too. LDF candidate K P Satheesh Chandran and former MLA C H Kunjambu. When reminded of Kunjambu’s earlier speech that Antony should have been made the prime minister, Antony said that he never lost touch with reality. “My feet are firmly on the ground,” he said nonchalantly.
Around 3pm, Antony visited the houses of the two Youth Congress workers murdered at Kalyod near Periya. Police parties guard the volatile area at every bend in the road. Party memorials lay shattered across the village. The area is still tense.
Antony stood silently amid the wails of the relatives of Sarath Lal. He just held the hands of the mourning relatives and consoled the younger sister of Lal. He then went to the thatched house of Kripesh, struggling to hold back his tears. He also monitored the house the party was building for the fallen worker’s family.
He went to the Congress party office at Kalyod. At a public meeting, he reiterated the party’s demand for a CBI inquiry into the double murders.
It was 7:30pm by the time he reached Payyannur, where a public meeting organised by the Congress has been going on for almost three hours. Forward Bloc leader G Devarajan stopped his speech to welcome the senior leader.
Antony took to the stage and started humbly: “I do not know to make a speech. I can only talk to you.” He then turned to the leaders on the dais and told them that he drew his strength from the people assembled there. As the people applauded him, he turned to the menace of the murderous politics in the state.
At about 9pm, he wound up his speech and got into his car, already packed with local leaders, to go to Kannur.
He started his next day as any other at the Government Guest House at Payyambalam. He sipped warm water as he went through the newspapers of the day. After a round of exercise, he met with leaders waiting for him. K C Joseph MLA and Satheesan Pacheni are accompanying him since morning.
He asked to shift a media interaction to another venue as he found it difficult to climb the stairs at the press club.
“I do not have any parliamentary ambitions. It is time for me to step aside. I am not for any office,” he summed up the interview.
He proceeded to Karuvanchal in Irikkoor assembly constituency and the Kannur town. Wherever he went, he focused on two points: It is time to end the rule of Narendra Modi at the centre. It was also time to put an end to political murders in the state.
The veteran leader hardly has time to rest. He is wanted in the next constituency, Vadakara, where K Muraleedharan, the son of one-time intra-party rival K Karunakaran is the UDF candidate.