Kerala Heat Amid Bihar Rally: Will Rahul Gandhi Break Silence On Rahul Mamkootathil’s Sexual Misconduct Row?

As Congress MP Rahul Gandhi goes out for his 16-day Voter Adhikar Yatra in Bihar, the party’s focus is shifting back to Kerala, where its emerging star leader Rahul Mamkootathil finds himself at the center of a sexual misconduct controversy. 

With things flipping on their head, we are left to wonder whether Rahul Gandhi would have to defend himself from Bihar as the party faces an internal bout of fray in one of Congress’s safest bastions.

Traditionally, Kerala has been a sensitive state for the Indian National Congress (INC). The INC has vested interests and nurtured its roots of leadership relatively close in the state. Rahul Gandhi even has a strong connection with Kerala as the parliament representative of Wayanad, and blithely speaks of Kerala as home.

Any controversy regarding Kerala Congress leaders thus has national significance, especially when Gandhi is projecting the moral and political narrative of the party in Bihar ahead of upcoming elections.

Why Rahul Mamkootathil is Under Fire?

Rahul B.R, whose full name is Rahul Mamkootathil, is one of the bright new generation leaders of the Congress in Kerala. He was born in Adoor, Pathanamthitta in 1989. His journey to prominence began in student politics starting in 2006 with KSU. Then, he became state general secretary, NSUI national secretary, and 2023 he became the state president of Indian Youth Congress. Since his trajectory in politics took a steep upward turn when he contested and won the by-election in Palakkad on November, 2024 defeating the BJP candidate with a massive margin of 18840 votes.

Though, this path was derailed when Malayalam actress Rini Ann George and author Honey Bhaskaran accused him publicly of harassment. Mamkootathil was forced to resign as Youth Congress president after submitting his resignation over the phone to KPCC president Sunny Joseph. Although he still retains his MLA seat, the allegations have tainted his political future.

The Kerala Congress leadership asserts that the allegations against an emerging young leader have been “falsely concocted”, and even draws comparisons with the popular “solar scam” that shook the political landscape of Kerala a decade earlier. However, the serious nature of the allegations and that they are being made at a time when national polls are close at hand, give credibility to the claims which is making it difficult for the party to simply brush the allegations aside.

ALSO READ: Congress Leader Rahul Mamkootathil Faces New Sexual Harassment Allegations From Trans Woman

Will Rahul Mamkootathil’s ‘Bad Image’ Impact Congress in Future Elections?

Opposition parties wasted little time in exploiting the charges against Mamkootathil. CPI(M) and BJP both made rebuttals, claiming Congress has no right to sermonize on accountability when it is covering up leaders involved in wrongdoing. Social media platforms have carried these messages forward, creating a cyber storm that Congress is struggling to put out.

In turn, Congress social media accounts have touched upon controversies that concern the leaders from competing parties. They refer to the FIR against CPI(M) MLA and actor M. Mukesh on allegations of sexual assault and BJP’s Prajwal Revanna, who was recently awarded life imprisonment in a sexual abuse case. “Why target Congress?” is the opposition argument being driven by party supporters.

But the larger question is whether the scandal will tarnish Congress’s election prospects. For Rahul Gandhi, who is already appealing to farmers and Bihari voters concerning the respectability of democracy and the right to vote, the charges take a direct hit at the moral high ground that he is trying to establish. Bihar opposition leaders are already suggesting Gandhi can’t occupy the high moral ground with a straight face without being asked questions about his party’s woes in Kerala.

Is Congress Becoming Male-Centric?

The Mamkootathil affair also lays bare the long-existing fault line of Congress its patriarchal leadership style. Kerala Congress has been repeatedly accused of ignoring women.

After being denied a ticket in the 2021 assembly elections, former president of Mahila Congress Lathika Subhash shaved her head in protest, a gesture associated with extreme dissatisfaction on the part of women leaders.

Similarly, Accamma Cheriyan, who had been the “Jhansi Rani of Kerala” was denied a Lok Sabha seat despite the fact that she was a long-standing veteran participant in the Freedom Movement, and had held senior political positions in the State. More recently, Padmaja Venugopal, the daughter of former CM K. Karunakaran, crossed over to the BJP after being frustrated with Congress.

ALSO READ: Rini Ann George Alleges Politician’s Repeated Advances With Hotel Invites And Inappropriate Messages For Years

At the all-India level even, AICC spokesperson Shama Mohamed has publicly called out the party for its performance in relation to women. She noted that although Rahul Gandhi said he wanted to ensure 50% women Chief Ministers in the next decade time, his party, Congress, fielded one woman candidate in Kerala at the last Lok Sabha elections.

Against the backdrop of all this, the allegations of sexual misconduct against Mamkootathil make the Congress look even more out of touch with the women’s justice story that they profess to value. Critics speculate that the defence of suspect males while sidelining women is a contradiction that will damage the party’s standing.

Will Rahul Gandhi Be Forced to Answer From Bihar?

While Rahul Gandhi tours Bihar drawing attention to the rights of voters, he has a corresponding battle of credibility. The opposition parties will use the Mamkootathil case to pin down Rahul Gandhi, questioning why he has been silent on charges within his party while rampantly criticizing opposing leaders.

The Congress is trying to do some damage control by assuring that an investigation will be carried out, with opposition leader VD Satheesan saying the charge will not be brushed under the carpet. However, without Gandhi taking a clear stand himself, the controversy threatens to snowball into one about the values of the party and how it treats women.

For now, Gandhi’s Bihar yatra is focused on attacking the Election Commission and the BJP over alleged voter list manipulation. But the longer he avoids addressing the Mamkootathil controversy, the more he risks appearing selective in his fight for justice.

What will be the fate of congress party in Kerala?

The allegations against Rahul Mamkootathil come at a critical juncture for the Congress. In Kerala, they threaten to tarnish the image of one of its most promising youth leaders. Nationally, they risk undermining Rahul Gandhi’s credibility as he seeks to project the Congress as a party of accountability and fairness during his Bihar yatra.

The central question is if Gandhi will confront the issue directly, agree with the charges and offer a way of being accountable or whether he will remain silent and allow the issue to be leveraged against him. Regardless, the case illustrates and reflects deeper structural problems within the Congress its gender representation challenges, its vulnerability to scandal, and its problems reconciling regional crises with national campaigns.

ALSO READ: Rahul Mamkootathil Resigns From Kerala Youth Congress President Post Over Allegations Of Harassment