Whoever wins the mountainous seat of Idukki in Kerala in the 16th lok Sabha election, it will be a victory against the environment because the main issues here are how not to protect the dying Western Ghats and how to protect the interests of settler farmers, planters, real estate developers and stone quarry operators.
UDF candidate Dean Kuriakose of the Congress is seeking votes on the claim that UDF and UPA Governments have annulled the guidelines the Union Environment Ministry had issued for protecting the Western Ghats as per the recommendations of a committee headed by scientist K Kasturirangan.
Joyce George, the Independent candidate supported by the CPI(M)-led lDF and also the legal advisor of the High Range Protection Council agitating against the Kasturirangan recommendations, wants voters to support him to defeat the ‘hypocritical attitude’ of both the UDF and UPA with regard to protecting the interests of the settler farmers and planters.
“More than 60% of Idukki voters are settler farmers, farm workers and planters who enjoy the whole-hearted blessings of their respective communities, especially the Catholic Church. The choice before them is to elect a candidate who they think would allow deterioration of Western Ghats in the name of farms and plantations,” says Idukki-based environmentalist KV Babu.
Amidst the cacophony over who can ensure continued plundering of the environment in Idukki, the BJP, which has fielded lawyer Sabu Varghese, can only use the election as an occasion to test how many people would vote for protecting the environment and to improve its vote-share from 3.59 percent registered in 2009 to something over six percent, observers say.
Sitting MP from Idukki is Congress leader PT Thomas. Congress, which wanted the Kasturirangan proposals to be implemented, refused to grant him ticket once more after the Idukki diocese of the Catholic Church threatened to defeat him for supporting the committee recommendations for protecting the Western Ghats.
The denial of ticket to Thomas became a blessing for Dean Kuriakose, an ardent loyalist of CM Oommen Chandy in the rampant group war in the party. Immediately after his selection as candidate, Dean called on Idukki’s Catholic Bishop Mar Mathew Anikkuzhikkattil only to be reprimanded for his party’s alleged anti-settle stand.
The High Range Protection Council, an outfit of small and big settler farmers of Idukki and being guided by people like Catholic priest Sebastian Kochupurakkal and leaders of other religious communities, has been agitating against the committee report since November 13, the day the Centre issued a direction for its implementation.
Since then, the council had been in favour of fielding own candidate in Idukki so that the so-called farmer-betrayers would not play hypocritical political games with the settlers. It is still unclear whether Joyce George’s name was first proposed by the lDF and supported by the council later or whether it was the other way round.
The big loser in the race for Idukki seat is K Francis George of the Kerala Congress (M) who had won the seat in 2004 and 2009 as an lDF candidate. His erstwhile party, the Kerala Congress (J), is now a part of the KC(M) and his efforts and those of his group to persuade the Congress to allot the seat to him failed miserably.
The left had tried its level best to persuade Francis George to somehow make his party nominate him or to declare his candidature by himself but the strategy did not succeed. It was in that context that the lDF resorted to proposing the name of Joyce George, the fifth Independent candidate of the CPI(M) which is contesting in 15 of the total 20 seats in Kerala.