“Are you satisfied with this government? Do you have something to tell us?” Peter flashed a perplexed smile when Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, State unit secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], asked him the question.
Early in the morning on Saturday, Mr. Balakrishnan, other party leaders, and local party workers, had arrived at R.C. Street, a narrow concreted street with small houses packed together, in Kunnukuzhy.
Peter was not expecting such a large contingent, followed by television cameras, to land up in front of his house in the morning. Nevertheless, he collected himself quickly and praised the work of local councillor I.P. Binu of the CPI(M).
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The State secretary’s visit to Kunnukuzhi was part of the house visits being undertaken by the party across the State over three days, with an aim to retain and expand its local connect.
“At each locality, the local leaders, party workers, and senior leaders are visiting the houses to hear opinions about the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government and to collect their complaints, if there are any. Instead of visits just during the elections, the CPI(M)’s policy is to continuously interact with people to solve their issues. The party workers are anyway getting themselves involved in all local issues. Still, we are unable to cover all houses. These house visits will make amends to that. We have 50,000 such squads going around the State over these three days,” said Mr. Balakrishnan.
After listening to praises about the government’s work from the first few houses, the contingent reached a two-room house with seven members. The residents complained of the leaking roof, which has made life difficult in the monsoon.
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LIFE project
“The government has launched the LIFE project, from which funds will be given for such maintenance work. You can contact the councillor and apply for it,” Mr. Balakrishnan told them.
On the way to the next house, outside which a middle-aged man was standing, the councillor told him that the house belonged to “the local leader of the Opposition.” Mr. Balakrishnan shook the hands of the ‘opposition leader’ and asked him the same questions. “Fine,” he responded.
At the next household, the residents complained about the mosquitoes in the locality. They pointed at the narrow open drain nearby. The councillor assured them of action. At another house, the resident told the party Secretary how he was jobless and finding it hard to survive as his Thattukada (wayside eatery) had to be closed down. Mr. Balakrishnan told him that alternative locations could be found.
Mr. Balakrishnan was accompanied by CPI(M) leaders V. Sivankutty, M. Vijayakumar, and others.