From Vijayan to Jose: Suicides Shake Congress Credibility in Kerala

Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress party in Kerala is facing one of its gravest moral and political crises in years. A string of suicides and suicide attempts among its own grassroots workers and their families has laid bare an organisation riven by corruption, factional fights, and broken promises.

The most recent incident came on September 13, 2025, when Padmaja, daughter-in law of former Wayanad DCC treasurer N M Vijayan, attempted suicide by slitting her wrist. She was discovered by her son and rushed to a private hospital in Sultan Bathery, where she survived. In her suicide note, she wrote: “Killer Congress, here is one more victim for you.” Her act of desperation has reignited protests in Wayanad and triggered questions about the Congress’s treatment of its own workers.

Padmaja in hospitalPadmaja’s ordeal is tied directly to the December 2024 suicide of her father -in-law Vijayan and his younger son Jijesh. Vijayan, a long-time Congress loyalist, had fallen into a crushing debt trap of nearly 2.5 crore rupees after party leaders allegedly collected bribes for promised jobs in cooperative banks. When the scam collapsed, he was left carrying the financial burden. Though KPCC initially promised to assume the liability, the leadership later backtracked, offering only a fraction of the support and denying any binding agreement.

For Padmaja, whose husband Vijesh is bedridden with illness, the betrayal has been unbearable. She has repeatedly accused leaders, including MLA T Siddique, of refusing to honour written assurances, even ignoring calls for money to cover hospital bills. Priyanka Gandhi, who once assured the family of support, was in Wayanad the very day Padmaja attempted suicide but did not visit. KPCC president Sunny Joseph dismissed the family’s demands by stating, “Not all demands can be met,” a remark widely seen as callous.

Padmaja’s words before her suicide attempt, vowing to sit on hunger strike with her children before the KPCC office, echo the despair of many ordinary workers abandoned by the party they once trusted. “Should we also die before Congress opens its eyes?” she asked.

Jose NelledamHer case is not an isolated tragedy. Just days earlier, Mullankolly panchayat member Jose Nelledam died by suicide after releasing a video testimony about relentless cyberattacks, humiliation, and betrayal at the hands of his own party colleagues. His family and even local DCC leaders confirmed that factional warfare within Congress drove him to the edge. DCC president N D Appachan admitted publicly that “forces within Congress” were responsible for the turmoil.

Yet, instead of confronting the crisis, Congress’s allies in the media appeared more interested in damage control. Reports suggest that Jose’s suicide was relegated to inside pages in leading dailies like Malayala Manorama and Mathrubhumi. Jose’s note implicating Congress leaders was omitted; instead, the reports painted him as complicit in the very factional disputes that tormented him.

The larger picture is devastating. In less than a year, three lives have been lost and one nearly lost, all tied to Congress’s internal corruption and betrayal. Families once loyal to the party are openly accusing it of destroying their lives. Padmaja’s suicide note, like Jose’s final video, is not just a personal cry of anguish but an indictment of a party that appears incapable of protecting its own.