A CPI(M) candidate’s victory speech from Alappuzha has shocked voters and quickly sparked a row after it went viral on social media for the wrong reasons. P Krishnakumar, the newly elected municipal ward councillor from Haripad recently delivered a speech which was both unpleasant and vindictive. An embittered Krishnakumar told the gathered audience that he ‘is ward councillor only for the 375 people who voted for him’ and that ‘he will not be everyone’s ward councillor in the coming 5 years’.
“The others need not approach me for help...In fact, I had made up my mind to tell you (audience) when I came here that I will see some of you as 2nd class and 3rd class citizens when you come to me for help,” he said.
The candidate was referring to residents of the ward who did not vote for the CPI(M) party, which he represented. From his speech, it is also clear that Krishnakumar was specifically targeting the section who voted for the BJP.
“When members from households here set foot on the road, they need to remember that they are stepping on the road that Krishnakumar built,” he says. He also says, "Those who drink the pipe water brought by a communist must drink it with gratitude”.
“With every drop of water passing through your throat, you must say Hare Krishnakumar and not Hare Ram Hare Ram,” he adds, in an obvious jibe at the BJP voters. “I realise that I sound arrogant. But those who disowned their own siblings for a sickle wild that bloomed in yesterday’s rains, need to think about what they have done,” he adds. Sickle wilds are feeble weeds that grow with rains and perish soon. Krishnakumar was likely referring to voters in the ward who voted for the BJP instead of the CPI(M), this time around.
He also says that each resident ‘should remember every minute of the day’ that it was him (Krishnakumar) and ‘not any Lord’ who has done anything for the development of the region.
Krishnakumar won as ward member in the Municipal Corporation polls in Haripad with 375 votes, defeating both the UDF and the NDA candidates. But despite winning as councillor for the whole ward, he insists that “those who did not vote for him need not approach him”.
“Thank you to the 375 people who voted for me. I pledge that I will be your councillor in front of all of you gathered here. The others can complain, and none of them have to approach me for help,” he concludes.