On the campaign trail with K.C. Venugopal

For K.C. Venugopal, it is work from home in Kerala these days, where he is part of the Congress high command one moment, and the field command in the State the next.

On Wednesday (April 1, 2026) morning, he remotely coordinated the Opposition’s parliamentary strategy to stall the Centre’s proposed changes to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) rules — a hot button issue among Christian churches in the State — before hitting the campaign trail as early as 7 a.m. The 63-year-old led a foot march in Kuttiyadi town in north Kerala, where a Congress worker’s house was attacked recently, allegedly by workers of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Ahead of the upcoming Kerala Assembly election, multiple anti-BJP parties have coalesced into two opposing alliances — the Congress-led United Democratic Front and the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front. KCV, as he is called, has to defend the Congress’s partnership with the Left elsewhere, while maintaining the rivalry in the State.

Global linkages

It is not just regional issues, but also national and even international politics that influence public opinion in Kerala. Mr. Venugopal’s next stop is Koilandy on the Arabian Sea shore, from where the Strait of Hormuz and New Delhi are roughly the same distance. The Jews, the Arabs, and the Europeans landed on these shores for trade millennia ago; just a earshot away along the same beach, Vasco da Gama landed in 1498 and found that the Christian community was already well established in Kerala.

“The Strait of Hormuz is closed because the U.S. and Israel started a completely unjustified war. The Narendra Modi government took the side of the aggressors, and people are paying the price. Fishers need kerosene to run their boats and earn their livelihood,” Mr. Venugopal told a convention in a fishers’ village.

“Fishers are the only people who work without an assured wage. I once went to the high seas with you, and after the entire night all the catch was no more than a handful of mackerel,” he told his audience, introducing the local party candidate who had lost the 2021 election by a whisker. “He will do what it takes to ensure that you are not alone. But let me tell you, this is not an election to elect an MLA; this is an election to unseat [Chief Minister] Pinarayi Vijayan, who is behaving like a king and treating the people as subjects,” he said, quickly pivoting to the core theme of the Congress campaign in the State. “People are fed up of the arrogance, intolerance, and corruption under Pinarayi,” he said.

‘The real Left’

Back in the car, he elaborated. “The real Left in Kerala are with the Congress this time, and they consider Rahul Gandhi their leader. On any given issue, it is Rahul Gandhi and the Congress that take the side of the people, and the genuine Left people are turning to us in this election,” he said. There are at least six candidates being fielded by the UDF in this election who parted ways with the CPI-M in recent months. “Pinarayi represents the interests of big money and corporations, and is working in tandem with [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi to damage the Congress,” he said.

The spine of the Congress campaign in Kerala is that the CPI(M) has a tacit understanding with the BJP, and that the Congress is the real Left. Asked about the CPI(M)’s allegation that the Congress battle against the BJP was half-hearted, he shot back. “The BJP has filed 36 cases against Rahul Gandhi; the [Enforcement Directorate] ED held him for so-called questioning for 56 hours — a first in the history of the country. Our bank accounts were frozen during the last Parliamentary election. Does all this look stage-managed to you?”

CM aspirant?

Mr. Venugopal has covered all 14 districts of the State and addressed 60 meetings already, but such events are only a small portion of his day. He still has to lend his ear to grievances that pour in from around the country, and call the random party leader who is sulking at not getting a ticket and the candidate who is taking it too easy. There is little time for niceties, and instructions are brusque. “Everyone knows that what I say is in their interest too,” he said, and party functionaries have gotten used to his style now.

In the event of the Congress winning the election, there are multiple aspirants for the top post. Does he too aspire to be Chief Minister? “Being or not being an aspirant does not make a difference for anyone. We do not have a CM candidate and our focus is clear — the victory of the UDF. For what follows, we have clearly established precedents and we shall follow that,” he said.