Anyone meeting Jyothi for the first time will have absolutely no idea about her Chhattisgarhi identity. Dressed like a typical Malayali woman, and speaking in crystal clear Malayalam, she married CISF jawan Palathulli V Vikas, after making the ultimate sacrifice of losing her right arm to save him.
“The day was January 3, 2010. I was seated just behind Vikas in the bus. Vikas was returning to his CISF unit at Bailadila in Dantewada district. Vikas was sleeping by resting his head on the window rails of the bus. Suddenly, I saw a truck coming in the direction of the rails on which Vikas’ head was resting after the driver lost control over the vehicle. I immediately put my hand out and pushed his head inside. Before I could take back my hand, the truck banged the bus crushing my hand,” Jyothi said in clear Malayalam. Later, the Keralite jawan, Vikas married Jyothi and thus she came to Kerala in 2011.
Jyothi is a native of Bacheli in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh and is contesting in the local body polls as BJP’s candidate in Palathulli division of Kollengode block panchayat in Palakkad district.
She now aims to serve people after her dream of becoming a nurse had been crushed by the accident. She is seeking votes on the plank of development and nationalism and said that that she had an affinity towards the BJP in Chattisgarh itself adding that the party is now gaining strength in Kerala.
The decision to contest was as instinctive as that accident that happened 10 years ago. “I have not been active in the BJP. But when BJP leaders asked me to contest, I agreed… I think politics would offer me a new avenue.”
(Source: Organiser)