Looking at Congress list of candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, I felt immensely proud to be a Malayali. But, as an Indian, it also fills me with much apprehension. I am proud to know that my small state, with just twenty seats, is being seen today by the highest leader of India’s secular forces as his best wicket. As in 2019, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is contesting again from Wayanad. Today, no other constituency in India appears as strong as Wayanad for him. What would be a better tribute to Kerala’s long tradition of secularism and religious harmony?

Most Indian prime ministerial candidates have entered the parliament from North Indian states. Since Nehru’s time, Uttar Pradesh was considered the prime minister’s turf. Until Rahul came to Wayanad, only thrice did Congress’s highest leaders test their electoral fortunes from the South. The most decisive occasion was in 1978, which helped Indira Gandhi to make a historic comeback. She won a bypoll from Chikmagalur in Karnataka, barely a year after her sensational rout in the post-emergency elections. In 1991, Narasimha Rao, who became Prime Minister after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, won from Nandyal in his native Andhra Pradesh with a Guinness record margin of 5 lakh votes. In 1999, Congress President Sonia Gandhi contested and won her first election from Amethi in UP and Bellari in Karnataka, though she retained the former after victory. Amethi, a long-time Nehru family pocket borough, was lost in 2019 when Rahul was defeated by BJP’s Smriti Irani by more than 55000 votes. It is yet unclear whether Rahul will contest from Amethi also this time.

But why does Rahul contesting from Wayanad make me apprehensive? It is because out of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats, only Kerala can offer a safe seat for India’s Grand Old Party’s highest leader. Not just for Rahul but also for his most trusted confidante, KC Venugopal, although Kerala is the latter’s home state, and Alappuzha was his constituency before. Another factor also aggravates my anxiety. Rahul, who is the Indian secular force’s commander-in-chief in its fight against the Hindutva juggernaut, is not taking on the BJP in Wayanad but the Left Democratic Front (LDF), which is........

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