Creating Waves, Calling for Change

05 May 2009: The election campaign of T. Wilson, the People’s Candidate, contesting from the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha Constituency in southern Tamil Nadu is fast gathering momentum.

Today his campaign van covered the gruelling stretch from Susindram via Nagercoil, Thucklaly, Marthandam, Kuzhithurai to Kaliayakkavilai right upto the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border. This stretch is about 40 kms and forms part of the busy Kanyakumari-Trivandrum highway. The whole stretch looks like one long town with rows of shops and markets, now and then interspersed with paddy fields. Producers of rubber, spices, vegetables and fruits come to the markets in these towns to sell their wares. One can see the Tamilnadu and Kerala state transport buses bulging with bananas, rubber sheets, and baskets of pepper.

One of the important issues that Wilson is addressing during his campaign is the livelihood of rubber workers and small producers in the district. Many years back the government owned rubber plantations dominated rubber production in the area. The workers in government plantations had some modicum of job security and benefits such as rain allowance, pension and living quarters. The wages given in the government plantations served as the benchmark for other small and big plantations. Over the years the entire plantation industry has been allowed to rot by the government. While the government gives the export, automobiles, petrochemicals and other capitalist huge handouts in the form of tax waivers etc, it has not invested in technological advancement of the rubber plantation industry which employs thousands of workers in the district and provides livelihood for thousands more of small producers and shopkeepers. Cheaper rubber imports from Malaysia where the farming technology is more advanced, has dealt a severe blow to rubber production in the district. Now efforts are on to privatize the remaining government plantations which is being vigorously opposed by the workers. Privatisation has only led to destruction of plantations and conversion of the land to real estate. In his roadside meetings in the town junctions Wilson and his comrades severely condemn this privatization and demand that the livelihood of rubber workers and small producers should be protected at any cost.

Another important issue that Wilson has been addressing in his campaign is the issue of security from disasters for the cyclone-prone coastal areas of the district. The Tsunami caused immense damage to the boats and houses of fishermen and other people living in the coastal areas of Kanyakumari district. From the thousands of crores of Tsunami Relief Fund, only a small fraction trickled down to the victims of the disaster. The rest went to the pockets of politicians, bureaucrats, contractors and touts. To this day the fishermen remain indebted. The people of the coastal areas are demanding that a stonewall be erected along the coast in populated areas to arrest the waves from the ocean when there is a storm. Though this was promised nothing happened.

Wilson, supported by Communist Ghadar Party of India and Lok Raj Sangathan and other organizations, is also mobilising the voters against price rise and against the shifting of the burden of the current economic crisis onto the backs of workers and peasants and small shopkeepers.

He is exhorting the people to build lok raj samitis in towns, villages, plantations and factories and stake a claim to play a central role in running the affairs of the country. He explains that for this the people should bring about a thoroughgoing renewal in the political process. They should replace the party-dominated political process with a people-dominated one. Wilson points to the fact that the Congress, BJP alliances at the centre as well as the DMK, AIADMK alliances at the state level are anti-people and have never done anything in the interest of the people. Though they mouth sweet words during the election campaigns and make tall promises, they are not accountable to the people. They are accountable only to the party which gave them the ticket to contest and to the big capitalists. People should be aware of their rights and demand that elected representatives should be accountable to the people. Only the alliance of workers and peasants can implement this demand by setting up their own government and bringing about a thorough overhaul of the political and economic system.