BeyondHeadlines Special Correspondent
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala: In a rebuff to the ruling left democratic front, Sindhu Joy, till the morning of March 24 a firebrand CPI(M) youth leader, joined the Congress in the afternoon, launching a tirade against the Marxist party’s “pretensions on gender justice and issues of faith”.
“How can Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, who cannot ensure fair treatment of women in the party, take care of interests of women outside the party,” she asked, setting the tone for the campaign in the days ahead.
Sindhu Joy was the first lady president of the SFI in Kerala. She contested against the opposition leader Oommen Chandy in the assembly elections 2006 and later against Congress leader Prof K. V. Thomas in the Lok Sabha elections in Ernakulam.
The KPCC President Ramesh Chennithala gave her the party membership at the election kick-off of Chandy. Earlier, she submitted her resignation letter to the CPI(M) district secretary Kadakampally Surendran in the morning.
“I have not been getting any support in the party since I narrowly lost the 2009 Lok Sabha election against the Congress from Ernakulam,” she said. “Perhaps, the party found that I was of no use after I lost the elections. They were not giving me any platform to engage with the public,” she said.
“They throw women to the dustbin after use,” she added. “One woman has quit. That’s how the Chief Minister referred to me. That shows how he treats women. If you want to be respected, join the Congress,” said Sindhu.
Another sore point for her was that she could never practise her faith. “I could not go to church,” she said. “When I kissed the bishop’s ring, as is wont with the faithful, it raised hackles of party men,” Sindhu Joy said.
