Lok Sabha polls: In Wayanad, people only discuss Rahul’s margin of victory

That Congress president Rahul Gandhi will win from Wayanad is a given. The only matter of speculation is by how many lakhs of votes. Rahul Gandhi had several stop-overs throughout the constituency on Wednesday.

Young Ayesha, who came from Onnammayil Kavu, which is more than a kilometre away from Sulthan Bathery, believes Rahul Gandhi will win with more than five lakh votes. Her mother Prabeena gives a slightly more sober figure of 3.5 lakh as they stood in the sweltering heat even after Rahul Gandhi had left the dais to see him climb the helicopter.

The St Mary’s Ground in Sultan Bathery was filled to the brink with people who had come from far to hear Rahul Gandhi speak.

Saramma and Kamalakshi from Thrikepatta say the majority would be closer to three lakh. “How much ever the majority, we are sure he will win, and we consider it our luck that he has decided to contest from here. There are many problems in this district. We are going through a severe farmers’ crisis after the floods and there is enough human-animal conflict in our area. We hope our loans will be waived off. He said he will be like our son, so we are hopeful that he will do something for us,” says Saramma, whose eyes welled up while talking about her loan. They had come from more than 45 kilometre away to hear the Congress president’s speech.

Adding to the chorus is Vasantakumar from Vellithodu. “Several of us have taken loans. We are getting notices from the banks. We are hopeful that if the Congress comes to power, it will be waived off. At least we won’t be in the fear of losing our homes,” says Vasantakumar.

“Wayanad has a lot of issues. The tribal population is the most neglected. We are hoping that when Rahul Gandhi represents the constituency, he will pay attention to them. There is a night travel ban which inconveniences all of us. This ban came into place only recently,” says Shimnath, a college student.

“We are thrilled that Rahul Gandhi chose our district. For several years the MPs here have not bothered about improving the district. There is severe human-animal conflict in several areas. A solution has to be found. We believe Rahulji will help us find solutions. He said he wants solutions from us. That is a huge statement. It means they don’t want to force solutions on us,” emphasises veteran Abdul Rehman, who had also come to hear Rahul Gandhi’s speech. He added that Rahul Gandhi would win with more than 2.5 lakh majority.