Rahul Gandhi meets his delivery nurse Rajamma in Wayanad
Kozhikode: It was a special moment for 72-year-old Rajamma Vavathil, a retired nurse, when Congress president Rahul Gandhi hugged and held her hand here on Sunday, 49 years after she took him in her hands as a newborn at a Delhi hospital.
Vavathil could not contain her happiness and excitement at meeting Gandhi, whose birth she had witnessed, as a grown-up man and the Member of Parliament from her Wayanad constituency in Kerala.
The Gandhi scion hugged her and held her hand when Vavathil and her family came to meet him at a guest house here in the morning.
Amidst his busy schedule, Gandhi, on a thanksgiving visit to Wayanad, which has sent him to Parliament this time with a massive victory margin of 4.31 lakh votes, spent some time with Vavathil's family.
Besides, the Congress chief obliged some party workers and their kin by posing for photographs with them. As a trainee nurse, Vavathil had taken care of Gandhi at Delhi's Holy Family Hospital after his birth on June 19, 1970.
The Congress chief also greeted Vavathil's family members, including her husband and grandchildren, who waited for hours to meet him.
When Vavathil recalled her memories of witnessing his birth and taking him in her hands as a newborn, Gandhi listened to her attentively with a smile on his face.
Before leaving, Vavathil gifted home-made jackfruit chips and sweets to the Congress chief, who, in turn, promised to meet her again. An excited Vavathil later said she was really happy to meet Gandhi after all these years.
"I am really happy and excited. I was the first among the few who took Rahul as a newborn in their hands. All those memories gushed though my mind when I met him again," she told reporters.
"I felt, I should give him some gift. That is why I gave him sweets and chips made by myself," the retired nurse said.
When a controversy over Gandhi's citizenship came up during the Lok Sabha election campaign, Vavathil had said she was one of those who were on duty at the Holy Family Hospital on June 19, 1970, when the Congress chief was born.
She had also said she was among the first few to take newborn Rahul in her hands.
"I was lucky as I was the first among the few who took the newborn in their hands. He was so cute. I was witness to his birth. I was thrilled...we all were thrilled to see the grandson of (then) prime minister Indira Gandhi," Vavathil had said.
Rahul Gandhi's father Rajiv Gandhi and uncle Sanjay Gandhi were waiting outside the labour room of the hospital when his mother Sonia Gandhi was taken for delivery, she had recounted.
Vavathil, who completed her nursing course from the Holy Family Hospital, later joined the military as a nurse.
After taking voluntary retirement from service, she returned to Kerala in 1987 and is now settled in Kalloor, near Sulthan Bathery in Wayanad.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Marxism will remain relevant despite Left electoral's losses, says general secretary M A Baby
New Delhi (PTI): CPI(M) General Secretary M A Baby on Thursday asserted that the Left movement would remain relevant despite not being in power in any state, saying the ideology would continue to endure as long as social and economic inequalities persist.
Hitting back at BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar over his reported remarks that Marxism had become irrelevant, Baby, in an interview with PTI Videos, said, "So long as there is division in society, so long as there is exploitation of the majority of workers, peasants and ordinary masses by a handful of billionaires, Marxism will remain relevant."
"That perhaps Mr Rajeev Chandrasekhar may not be able to understand, but this is the fact of the matter," he said.
Baby acknowledged that the CPI(M)-led Left was currently without an elected government in any state, but maintained that electoral setbacks would not diminish the movement's role.
"We may not have an elected government in any state. There were occasions when we didn't have a government. But the red flag and the commitment to organise and struggle for the rights of the dispossessed, marginalised and exploited will always be upheld by CPI(M) and the Left movement," he said.
He said the Left continued to enjoy support among workers, peasants, agricultural labourers, youth, students and women, and argued that the movement remained necessary because "oppression and assault" continued in society.
"So long as such problems exist in society, the red flag and the working class movement will continue to work among the masses," the Left leader said.
Exuding confidence on the Left's revival, Baby said the party would reflect on the reasons behind its electoral loss.
"We may be rejected in one election, but we will stage our comeback by understanding what went wrong with us," he said, adding, "We will listen to people and we will come back with higher strength."
Baby also criticised the Congress over reported factional tensions in Kerala after the Congress-led United Democratic Front's victory in the state.
"The way they are behaving is being watched by the people of Kerala," he said, referring to infighting within the Congress.
"Those who have given a massive majority to Congress and UDF would be watching all this," he added, while urging party leaders to "settle the problem in an amicable, democratic manner".
Referring to West Bengal, Baby alleged that violence had escalated following the BJP's victory in the state assembly polls.
"It is quite unfortunate that the moment BJP snatched a massive victory in West Bengal, violence has also started on a big scale," he said.
He also accused the Trinamool Congress of being "notorious for violent activities" and alleged that the "RSS-controlled BJP" had "unleashed violence in many places" after the election results.
"This is not good for Bengal, not good for the country. We wish and hope that normalcy would be restored as soon as possible," he said.
Baby said the CPI(M) and the Left in West Bengal would continue efforts to "pacify people" and avoid violence and confrontation.
Asked about former Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan not reacting publicly to the election results, Baby said Vijayan would respond "at an appropriate time".
