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The matrilineal Kurichiya Adivasi tribe of Kerala’s Wayanad district had made history way back in the late 17th Century by fighting with the legendary king, Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja, against the British. Twenty-nine-year-old PK Jayalakshmi of this valorous tribe will make history on Monday when she becomes the first Adivasi woman to take oath as a Minister in the State.
Kurichiyar have always been known as great archers and it was with bows and arrows that they had fought their guerilla wars against the British. When Jayalakshmi takes over as a Minister in the Oommen Chandy Cabinet, her greatest asset is her mastery in the very area where her ancestors excelled. She has won medals at several levels in archery contests.
Adivasis in Wayanad, which includes the Mananthavadi constituency from where Jayalakshmi was elected as Congress’s MLA, say that only two tribal women of Kerala have hit the headlines in the new millennium. The first is CK Janu, who led a fierce Adivasi agitation against the establishment that met with a tragic end, and the second is Jayalakshmi.
The lone woman MLA of the Congress-led UDF coalition, Jayalakshmi would need all her archery skills and concentration to hit her targets while serving as Minister because her people are now seeing her as their savior at a time when Adivasis still remain victims of exploitation despite the hundreds of crores of rupees spent in their name.
Janu’s own blood-stained struggle was for the Adivasis; right to land to live and cultivate. Her stir in 2003, known as the Muthanga agitation, ended after an Adivasi was killed in firing in one of the largest-ever police mobilizations in Kerala. Majority of Kerala’s Adivasis are still homeless and landless and stirs for land are continuing in several tribal areas of the State.
Jayalakshmi’s principal concern will be this. The track record of the Congress cannot encourage her in this matter. It was during the tenure of the previous UDF regime the Muthanga agitation had taken place. Then chief minister AK Antony promised them land and failed to fulfill and thus pushed the Adivasis into the blood-stained agitation.
Jayalakshmi was just a ward member in the Thavinjal panchayat in Wayanad till Rahul Gandhi “discovered” her and asked the State leadership to field her as a candidate for the Assembly polls. But no State Congress leader was convinced of her ability to beat CPI(M)’s sitting MLA KC Kunhiraman in the Mananthavadi seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes.
But the voters trusted her and elected her as the UDF’s lone woman MLA with a huge margin. Still, the State Congress leaders, whose only interest was in keeping balance of groups in the Ministry, did not consider her seriously and her name was not there in the list of possibles that Chandy took to the high command for clearance.
However, Chandy was forced to announce Jayalakshmi as one of the ten Congress Ministers in the UDF Government after the high command persisted in the demand for inclusion of a woman. In the groupism-ravaged Congress politics of Kerala, Jayalakshmi has not had time to take sides with any faction, but she is somehow known as a member Chandy’s A-group.
The Kurichiya archer girl is yet to master the tactical warfare in which politicians excel but she hopes to learn it quickly so that she can negotiate with her seniors for bringing welfare to the Adivasi oors (villages). “My days in the panchayat have taught me something. I have greater responsibilities now. But I am determined to do my best for my people,” she said.
Kurichiyar have always been known as great archers and it was with bows and arrows that they had fought their guerilla wars against the British. When Jayalakshmi takes over as a Minister in the Oommen Chandy Cabinet, her greatest asset is her mastery in the very area where her ancestors excelled. She has won medals at several levels in archery contests.
Adivasis in Wayanad, which includes the Mananthavadi constituency from where Jayalakshmi was elected as Congress’s MLA, say that only two tribal women of Kerala have hit the headlines in the new millennium. The first is CK Janu, who led a fierce Adivasi agitation against the establishment that met with a tragic end, and the second is Jayalakshmi.
The lone woman MLA of the Congress-led UDF coalition, Jayalakshmi would need all her archery skills and concentration to hit her targets while serving as Minister because her people are now seeing her as their savior at a time when Adivasis still remain victims of exploitation despite the hundreds of crores of rupees spent in their name.
Janu’s own blood-stained struggle was for the Adivasis; right to land to live and cultivate. Her stir in 2003, known as the Muthanga agitation, ended after an Adivasi was killed in firing in one of the largest-ever police mobilizations in Kerala. Majority of Kerala’s Adivasis are still homeless and landless and stirs for land are continuing in several tribal areas of the State.
Jayalakshmi’s principal concern will be this. The track record of the Congress cannot encourage her in this matter. It was during the tenure of the previous UDF regime the Muthanga agitation had taken place. Then chief minister AK Antony promised them land and failed to fulfill and thus pushed the Adivasis into the blood-stained agitation.
Jayalakshmi was just a ward member in the Thavinjal panchayat in Wayanad till Rahul Gandhi “discovered” her and asked the State leadership to field her as a candidate for the Assembly polls. But no State Congress leader was convinced of her ability to beat CPI(M)’s sitting MLA KC Kunhiraman in the Mananthavadi seat reserved for Scheduled Tribes.
But the voters trusted her and elected her as the UDF’s lone woman MLA with a huge margin. Still, the State Congress leaders, whose only interest was in keeping balance of groups in the Ministry, did not consider her seriously and her name was not there in the list of possibles that Chandy took to the high command for clearance.
However, Chandy was forced to announce Jayalakshmi as one of the ten Congress Ministers in the UDF Government after the high command persisted in the demand for inclusion of a woman. In the groupism-ravaged Congress politics of Kerala, Jayalakshmi has not had time to take sides with any faction, but she is somehow known as a member Chandy’s A-group.
The Kurichiya archer girl is yet to master the tactical warfare in which politicians excel but she hopes to learn it quickly so that she can negotiate with her seniors for bringing welfare to the Adivasi oors (villages). “My days in the panchayat have taught me something. I have greater responsibilities now. But I am determined to do my best for my people,” she said.
