Among many things, Shashi Tharoor is an amusing author. The noted works of the Congress MP include 'Nehru: The Invention of India'. In the 2003 short biography of Jawaharlal Nehru, Tharoor narrates the life and major milestones of the first Indian Prime Minister's political career.
As the senior Congressman seeks people's mandate yet again from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram constituency, words of Jawaharlal Nehru are being used against him. The curious incident happened in the Gowreesapattom neighbourhood of Kerala's capital city where the Left Democratic Front (LDF) used a quote by Nehru at an election committee office.
The office set up in the shape of the Red Fort is decorated with Constitutional values in both Malayalam and English. The famous Nehruvian quote "Who lives if India dies? Who dies if India lives?" is used inside a blank Indian map inside the office alongside a mini-library.
According to the LDF, the decision to use Jawaharlal Nehru's quote was a means to communicate to the voters the pathetic level the Congress as stooped down to politically. Kerala's leading front wants to tell the people that only the Left can ideologically take the BJP-led NDA head-on.
"The Congress can't take on the Sangh Parivar any longer, because they have become ideologically pauper. One can't take on Hindutva with soft Hindutva. The only remedy to Hindutva is secularism. One must understand the concept of India to win the people's trust. This is an effort to remind the voters what the idea of India originally is," CPM's Nandagopal Suresh said.
The LDF election committee office was given the look of the Red Fort
Thiruvananthapuram constituency: A closely fought seat
Thiruvananthapuram is among the closely-watched constituencies in the southern state as sitting MP Tharoor is gearing up for a tough three-sided contest. The state capital is among the seats the BJP fancies its chances to upset the Left-Congress duopoly. Pitted against Tharoor are CPI veteran Pannian Ravindran for the LDF, and Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Chandrasekhar for the NDA.
A former state secretary of the CPI, the second biggest constituent of LDF, veteran leader Pannian Ravindran represented Thiruvananthapuram in the Lower House from 2005 and 2009. During the 2019 general elections, CPI's C Divakaran finished third (2,58,556) behind BJP's Kummanam Rajasekharan (3,16,142) and Shashi Tharoor (4,16,131).
