If you support K-Rail, a proposed semi-high-speed railway network that has become a touchstone for the deeply polarising “development debate” in Kerala, and if you run into Manoj Varkey, you will have to put your money where your mouth is.

Varkey will make you an offer you cannot refuse: pay Rs 50 lakh to buy my home that I bought for Rs 60 lakh and make a killing when the CPM-led government keeps its promise to pay three times the market value for the land taken for the rail project.

That’s the offer Varkey, 47, a hard-up air conditioner technician in Kerala’s Kottayam district, has come up with to protest the government’s K-Rail thrust.

Varkey from Madapally has become a rallying point for the protests against the acquisition of land for the Left Democratic Front government’s K-Rail Silver Line since posting on Facebook his wish to sell his house for a supporter of the project to buy it and claim the government’s compensation amount.

“This property and the house cost me Rs 60 lakh. The government has declared three times its value for this property. Since I don’t have the capacity to handle that kind of money I intend to sell it for Rs 50 lakh,” Varkey declared in the post.

The 1,400sqft three-bedroom single-storey house stands on 8.5 cents (approximately 3,700sqft) of land. “Any great individual who is a K-Rail supporter can buy this property and sell it for three times the value (when the government acquires the land),” he wrote.

Varkey’s challenge to K-Rail supporters underscores the misgivings swirling around the promises made by the government and a cloud hanging over the exact schedule of the payment of compensation.

If no one comes forward to buy the property at such a low price — so far, no one has — critics of the project can then claim that the faith of the diehard advocates of K-Rail in the government is as fragile as those of the sceptics.

The Rs 64,000-crore Silver Line project is a 529km railway line connecting Kerala capital Thiruvananthapuram in the state’s south to Kasaragod in the north and aims to cut travel time from 12 hours to under four hours with just 11 stops. The project has triggered massive protests over land acquisition and environmental concerns, although the government has clarified that the route does not traverse any ecologically sensitive zones.

Varkey and his wife Liji Joseph were among those who staged a protest at Madapally on Thursday where they clashed with police. The protesters also uprooted several boundary-marker stones painted yellow with “K-Rail” inscribed on them.

The cops had taken Varkey and a few other men to the local police station and kept them there for several hours before letting them go without pressing charges.

“I migrated to Madapally from my native Kuttanad in Alappuzha fearing floods. I had to spend much of my earnings from Brunei where I worked for 20 years as an AC technician for the relocation. Now I am set to lose my home,” Varkey told The

Telegraph on Tuesday.

Since returning from Brunei two months before the onset of the first wave of Covid-19 in Kerala, Varkey has been surviving by repairing ACs locally.

“I am struggling to make ends meet without a regular job and with two school-going daughters. My eldest daughter will be appearing for her Class X exams in a few days,” he said.

While he has been criticised for his Facebook post and claims have been made that his family members support the Opposition Congress, Varkey said they had no political leanings. “We don’t work for any political party. Our main complaint is that the government must try to understand our problems and not be adamant.”

Amidst the raging controversy, K-Rail managing director V. Ajith Kumar clarified on Monday that the marker stones are being laid for a social impact assessment and not to immediately acquire land. “Land will be acquired only after receiving the railway ministry’s approval and paying the compensation,” K-Rail quoted Kumar as saying in a tweet.

But Varkey has a problem with that explanation. “My daughter will be ready for a professional degree in two years. No banks will give us mortgage loans on properties to be acquired for the Silver Line project,” he said.

His wife Liji, who had quit her job as a nurse to take care of their two daughters, has been struggling to find employment again. “She left her job several years ago since I was in Brunei and she had to take care of our daughters. No one will employ her now because of the long gap. Tell me what will people like us do if the government arbitrarily takes over our land?” Varkey said.

While residents like Varkey have serious concerns over the project, many others believe that the Silver Line has many benefits such as reducing travel time. The Congress-led United Democratic Front and the BJP oppose the project.

State Congress president K. Sudhakaran has suggested air travel as a viable alternative to the Silver Line. He has proposed a “Fly Kerala” project as a better option to provide cheaper and frequent flights connecting the four international airports in Kannur, Kozhikode, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram.