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Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) who have been protesting outside the Kerala Secretariat for over 120 days will now take their agitation to Nilambur ahead of the upcoming bye-election. Their campaign will not endorse any candidate but focus on spreading awareness about their ongoing struggle. With the slogan “No votes for those who insult the ASHA movement,” the campaign will be led by ASHA Workers’ Association vice president S Mini and include door-to-door outreach.
The protest began on February 10, with ASHA workers demanding that their monthly honorarium be raised from Rs 7,000 to Rs 21,000, along with a lump sum retirement benefit of Rs 5 lakh at age 62 and other social security measures including pensions. Despite months of protests, their demands remain unmet.
KP Rosamma, an ASHA worker helping organise the Nilambur campaign, said, “We have been protesting in the scorching heat and heavy rains for 122 days only to be ignored and insulted by the government. This campaign in Nilambur represents our strong disdain towards this state government that claims to be ‘pro-worker’ and ‘pro-women’. We unequivocally reject this government and want to expose their lies and hypocrisy to the Nilambur voters.”
She also condemned remarks made by Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate M Swaraj, who allegedly referred to the protesters as “jobless” and dismissed the movement. The Nilambur bye-election will be between United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate Aryadan Shoukath, LDF’s M Swaraj, independent candidate PV Anvar, among others.
In an interview, Swaraj said, “ASHA workers are part of a Union government scheme. States also play a role. The Left’s stance is to accept them as workers who should be paid minimum wage. The Union has not done that. When LDF came to power in 2016, their honorarium was Rs 1,000. We increased it sevenfold, but it is still not enough.”
Responding to this, Rosamma said the Union government is only obligated to provide ASHA workers with incentives. “We have not started this protest abruptly. A lot of research has gone into putting forward these demands. Other state governments provide ASHA workers with wage increases and retirement benefits, whereas the Left government has cut our wages and failed to meet any of our demands,” she added.
What began as a demand for fair wages and benefits has now evolved into what organisers call a broader fight for justice and dignity. Around 50 ASHA workers from Thiruvananthapuram will travel to Nilambur to join local campaigners. The awareness drive will continue until June 18, a day before polling.