“One more victim of Congress apathy”. These are no ordinary words. But that from a suicide note of a Congress footsoldier from Priyanka Vadra’s Lok Sabha constituency of Wayanad, who made a suicide attempt a few days back due to mounting debts. The victim Padmaja comes from a family of committed Congress leaders.
The insensitivity of Wayanad Congress leaders can be gauged from the fact that she is the daughter-in-law of the late Wayanad DCC treasurer N M Vijayan, who too along with his son Jijesh, committed suicide on December 27, 2024 due to burgeoning debts and then Congress leaders, including Priyanka Vadra, promised the family much-needed help, which never came.
A little less than two years back, Kerala politics was taken by storm due to the deaths of Wayanad District Congress Committee Treasurer N M Vijayan, 78 and his son Jijesh. The two were discovered dead at their home on December 27, 2024, under suspicious circumstances. They were believed to have committed suicide by consuming poison. The reasons which forced them to take such an extreme step were burgeoning debts, which were due to certain reasons linked to the financial mismanagement in the Congress party.
The deceased Vijayan was the fundraiser for the Congress party in Wayanad, Kerala. Subsequently, after much of a furore, Priyanka Vadra Gandhi, who represents Wayanad in the Lok Sabha, on Jan 28, 2025 even met the deceased’s family at their residence and assured all possible help. Priyanka Gandhi spent approximately 25 minutes with Vijayan’s surviving family members, offering condolences and promising support.
Late Vijayan’s family then informed that Priyanka has assured them that the Congress party would help with financial commitments and ensure that the matters raised in the suicide note would be thoroughly investigated.
But Priyanka Vadra’s assurance proved false as the poor family failed to get any assistance. What to say of assistance, even senior Congress leaders from the state did not find it appropriate to visit late Vijayan’s house to know of their well-being.
But first, one needs to know as to what were the circumstances that forced the father-son duo, who were active Congress workers in Wayanad, to commit suicide. Documents have surfaced showing that the deceased Vijayan allegedly took bribes on behalf of senior Congress leaders to secure jobs for unemployed youths in cooperative banks ruled by Congress. And this senior Congress leader needed this funds for the party.
One of the documents being circulated is an October 9, 2019 dated agreement of deceased Vijayan with a person identified as Peter, showing a transaction of Rs 30 lakhs in return for a job for Peter’s son in the cooperative bank ruled by Congress. Further, the amount was given to Vijayan on the assurance given by IC Balakrishnan, who was then Wayanad District Congress President. Moreover, the document also revealed that if the son of Peter failed to get the job, Vijayan would ensure that the amount is returned with 7 per cent interest to Peter and for assurance, a blank cheque from Vijayan was given to Peter.
Significantly, a letter allegedly written by deceased Vijayan to KPCC president K Sudhakaran demanding urgent intervention in the matter had also surfaced putting Congress in the dock.
The individual in question, IC Balakrishnan, is currently a Congress MLA from Sulthan Bathery in the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat and has actively campaigned for Priyanka Gandhi in the recently concluded Lok Sabha by-poll.
Kerala police on Jan 25 arrested I.C. Balakrishnan, on charges of alleged suicide abetment in connection with the deaths of Vijayan and his son. Balakrishnan is the prime accused, while Appachan and Gopinathan were also arrested, later securing bail. The three leaders had previously been granted anticipatory bail in mid-January.
The Vijayan family had claimed that Congress leaders were ignoring their pleas and not responding to calls. Even the family was kept waiting outside the Gaja, the forest guest house in Sulthan Bathery, when Priyanka was on a flash visit to her constituency on Sunday.
The family said they hoped to inform Priyanka Gandhi directly of their plight, as she had earlier assured them that the party would stand by them and help settle their financial burden.
The family had even threatened to spill the beans if the Congress leadership does not come to their help. “If the leaders continue their apathetic attitude towards us, we will be forced to take our own course of action, which could damage the party’s image,” Vijesh, the second son of late Vijayan had then threatened. But none of the Congress leaders both in Kerala and high command took it seriously.
While the Late Vijayan family is now shattered due to these deaths, just a day back, another Congress leader who worked tirelessly for Priyanka Vadra in Wayanad bypolls also committed suicide.
Senior Congress leader Jose Nelledam 57, ward member of Mullankolly village panchayat, was found dead in a pond near his home on Friday. According to police, he had consumed poison and also slit the veins of his left wrist.
He even recorded a video before committing suicide, where he alleged that the corruption charges against him were fabricated by those jealous of him.
The Gandhi family pledges to end poverty, election after election. They promise a dream of better lives to ordinary countrymen, but the reality is something else.
