I moved to Kerala from Bombay in April 2017. I had no idea about the politics of the state. Kochi felt like a quaint small town.

And then things started to change.

What I didn’t know when I moved here is that the LDF and Pinarayi Vijayan had just come into power in 2016.

My job requires me to travel up and down the state for meetings quite constantly - from Kannur in the north to Trivandrum in the south. And I literally saw the state change in front of my eyes.

Roads started widening. Potholes disappeared. Flyovers came up.

The advertising agency I work for is empaneled with the industrial development corporation. The brochure we started making for them in 2017 kept getting updated every month with new projects. It turned into a damn coffee table book and it’s still not finished.

I saw them handle the Nipah crisis and the floods (part 1 and 2) with dignity. The street I lived on flooded during the monsoons, so I googled the corporator’s number and called him...and they came by and fucking fixed it.

Here’s the thing. I spent my entire life blissfully -

-unaware of politics. Only Modi’s arrival shook me awake a little. I’d always thought of all politicians as crooks, BJP just slightly worse than the others. But over the last 4 years, I’ve seen firsthand that good politicians exist and what good leadership can do to a place.

So for everyone saying “If not Modi then who?” I present the guys who’ve made sure BJP doesn’t have a single seat (yet).

Looking forward to another 5 years of good governance.

P.S. : if you haven't already, take a look at the solid work that the Women and Child Department is doing in Kerala under Anupama IAS. No half measures.