Kerala Assembly Elections | Three women and their acts of defiance

Dissenting voices of a few women who have decided to play a part in the State Assembly election may sound muted in comparison to the eruption of vocal protests in public against the candidature of official nominees of major political parties in some constituencies in the past week. Their understated individual expression of dissent or sentiments through unconventional protests such as tonsuring though is subtle but profound defiance of the establishment, which is either the leadership of the parties concerned or the ruling authorities.

The outbreak of protests by local leaders and cadres of major political parties against the announcement of their respective candidates in Ponnani, Kuttiyadi, Elathur and Irikkur dominated the election debates in the past week as did Congress leader Lathika Subash’s act of tonsuring her head as a symbolic protest against the denial of the Ettumanur seat to her and her resignation as State president of the Mahila Congress.