Shailaja's exclusion raises question of who is bigger: individual or party?

The former health minister's exclusion from Vijayan's second Cabinet raises the age-old question of who is bigger

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his council of ministers were sworn in today. Former health minister K K Shailaja (64) wasn’t among the ministers. The central issue in the outcry after she was dropped is: Who is bigger — the party, the government or an individual?

Her furious supporters contend that Shailaja should be given credit for helping the Left Democratic Front (LDF) to power for the second time in a row, breaking a trend in Kerala politics.

There is no doubt about Shailaja’s popularity. Her role as teacher is so highly respected that it is added to her name: K K Shailaja Teacher. She joined the Marxist Party (as the CPI-M is called in Kerala) when she was a teenager. The party ushered her into the local Assembly two decades ago but the pressure — of teaching physics and chemistry to teenagers and doing political work — was crushing. So she had to choose. “I would be in school and after 4 pm each day I would go to political meetings. I could not do both and be truthful to either occupation. So, I became one for politics,” she told a reporter.

“This is about serving society,” she added. “In science, I would encourage my students to look beyond their textbooks and understand the role of science in society. Politics I love because it allows me similar interaction with people, in healthcare and social justice and women’s development.”

Shailaja belongs to a political family. The influence she treasures most is that of her maternal grandmother M K Kalyani, who was a tough woman with extensive influence in the village. Shailaja remembers her grandmother fondly. “I used to be in awe of the respect she commanded. Even alcoholics in the village used to be scared of her; she used to pour water on them,” she was quoted as saying in an interview.

“She (Kalyani) was a staunch Communist who helped many Communist leaders hide during the British era. When smallpox was killing people across states, it was people like Kalyani who helped the public in many ways. She encouraged quarantining even then,” K Bhas­ka­ran, Shailaja Teacher’s husband, also a teacher, fellow Communist and “Maashu” to her, is quoted as saying. “Maashu” is the word used in Kerala for a male teacher.

“When we got married, Maashu told everyone, ‘She goes out, just like me; there’s no difference.’ I’d finish from school, where I was teaching, then attend party meetings and when I came home, my mother-in-law would ask me how it went and we would discuss it, so there was always support,” she told Vogue magazine, possibly the only time a Communist has featured in this upscale publication.

Many argue that if it hadn’t been for Shailaja’s work in steering the government and state through cyclone Ockhi, two floods, the epidemics Nipah and Covid-19, Vijayan might never have returned to power. But the government shone in crisis management — and it wasn’t limited to public health. “Most of the infrastructure projects were facing a roadblock, whether it was power highway, national highway or the crucial gas highway. All these projects were blocked by earlier governments playing to the gallery. This government broke that trend,” John Brittas, media advisor to the chief minister and managing director of Kairali TV (a CPM-backed channel) told Business Standard before the elections.

But there is no doubt that Shailaja’s vigilance saved Kerala when news of the virus in Wuhan broke and the protocol that was in place for Nipah was rolled out again. The rest of the LDF government responded with initiatives on fiscal support, free rice, lockdown and community kitchens. The state was able to flatten the curve in the first wave, but suffered badly in the second. The elections came in between.

Instead of being part of the government, Shailaja has been appointed party whip, a position that involves ensuring all members of the LDF follow the party line and vote in the same way. This post is a way of recognising her stature in the party — and government. The only person who does not come under the whip’s jurisdiction is the Speaker.

So it’s back to the central question: Who’s bigger, the party, the government or the individual? At the end of the day, it was the system that threw up a Shailaja. Shouldn’t Vijayan get at least a bit of the credit?