Two years after they unsuccessfully fought the state government and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leadership over a road project, the members of a people's collective in Keezhattoor in Kerala's Kannur district has decided to cross swords with the Marxist party in the local self government election.

The members of the collective - Vayalkkilikal, meaning birds of paddy field - said the election, scheduled for December 14, would be a referendum on the road project.

The outfit's member Latha Suresh is taking on P Valsala of the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front in Division 30 of the Taliparamba Municipality. Congress-led United Democratic Front and BJP-led National Democratic Alliance have apparently decided to support Latha.

Keezhattoor village, which lies 25km north of district headquarters Kannur, saw mass protests when the State government decided to realign and widen the existing National Highway-66 in 2018, reclaiming large tracts of paddy fields.

Party village

Keezhattor is CPI(M) stronghold. It is popularly known by the epithet 'party village', which implies that no activity can happen here without the party's support.

But the road project had dented the perception.

Party members turned 'renegades' overnight and protested against Pinarayi Vijayan-led government's ambitious project because they believed it would destroy their paddy fields and cause irreparable environmental damage.

The protests had attracted nation-wide attention and were supported by all political parties, excluding the CPI(M) and environment activists.

BJP had even tried to draw parallels between the Keezhattoor agitation and the Singur protests of 2006 in West Bengal. (Singur village witnessed violent protests after the then West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya of CPM took over around 1,000 acres of agricultural land for the Tata Group to set up a car plant. Political pundits said the action had eroded CPM's mass support base in the State).

BJP brought people who led the Singur protests and declared that they would stand with the people of Keezhattoor till the Kerala government revoked the project.

All promises were dashed when BJP leader and Union Minister for Roads Transports and Highways Nitin Gadkari virtually inaugurated works of eight new National Highways, including the one cutting through Keezhattoor, on October 13, 2020. Gadkari even praised Pinarayi Vijayan for speeding up the land acquisition.

'Fight against CPM's corporate agenda'

Vayalkkilikal leader Suresh Keezhattoor said his organisation is fighting the election to expose CPM's corporate agenda.

"The CPM in Kerala is protecting corporate interests like never before. The party portrays profit-oriented corporate ventures as models of development. Our fight is a sort of resistance against this approach," he said.

Suresh said the election will be a referendum on the Keezhattoor road project. "The poll would help us gauge the mood of the people. Hence we decided to contest the election," he said.

He confessed that the Keezhattoor agitation had failed. "But the Vayalkkili movement is still creating waves in the village."

Tough task in a CPM fortress

Latha has slim chances of victory, going by the village's election history.

P Prakashan had won the seat hands down for CPM in the last local body election in 2015, collecting 81 per cent (444) of the total 547 polled votes. Congress got 17 per cent (90 votes) while BJP polled just two per cent (13 votes).

CPM leadership thus leans heavily on statistics to predict another runaway win for its candidate Valsala and discount Vayalkkilikal's ability to swing votes.

"Vayalkkilikal is no match for CPM. We are not bothered about its presence," said the party leader T V Vinod Kumar.

He predicted Valsala's win by over 400 votes. "Keezhattoor residents support CPM's development agenda. They are with us," Vinod said.

Vayalkkilikal leader Suresh too claimed victory for his outfit. "We have succeeded in inculcating environmental awareness among the people."

He said a majority of voters who are worried about the future of Keezhattoor will vote for Latha. "We will win the poll by a narrow margin," he said.