The lush green tea gardens are a fascinating sight for anyone travelling on the Kozhikode-Ooty interstate highway. However, the beauty does not reflect on the lives of the workers at these estates.
When Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Annie Raja, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency, arrived at a tea estate near Chundale around 8 a.m. as part of her campaigning, she got a taste of their troubles. The women were just starting to pluck the leaves, unmindful of the blistering morning sun, and they filled her in on their plight, including low wages, the wretched condition of accommodation in estates, and the dearth of medical care facilities in the plantation sector. She spent nearly three hours with them and promised to raise the issues in Parliament if elected.
