Oommen Chandy: A political tactician and a people's chief minister

Oommen Chandy (79), twice chief minister of Kerala and ten times MLA from the Puthuppally assembly constituency in Kottayam district, died today after a long battle with cancer. The greatest and simplest tribute paid to him was by an IAS officer from the Kerala cadre, Sudha Pillai, who told Business Standard: “He was a very fine politician, development-oriented, and the state could flourish under his leadership. I have never heard of anyone who said anything bad about him behind his back. His death is a loss to Kerala.”

Chandy was Kerala’s chief minister from 2004 to 2006 and 2011 to 2016. He also served as the leader of the Opposition from 2006 to 2011. He was a dyed-in-the-wool Congressman who served his party from the Youth Congress (he was state president) to, literally, his dying day when he participated in the Bharat Jodo Yatra of Rahul Gandhi last year, despite being grievously ill. He was also associated with several trade unions affiliated with the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) and when he became state labour minister, his understanding of trade union politics helped him navigate the high
unemployment in Kerala.

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In state politics (Chandy never served at the Centre), he rose largely as a disciple of guru AK Antony. Veteran Congressman Vayalar Ravi was Antony's principal lieutenant. But in the "group" Congress politics of Kerala, the other pole was K Karunakaran. When Ravi began to drift towards Karunakaran, it was young Chandy who became Antony's understudy. His loyalty to Antony continued for several decades, until he edged Antony out to become chief minister for the first time in 2004.

Chandy was never known as a great orator – nowhere near CPI(M) rival Pinarayi Vijayan. He also showed a marked charisma deficit. What he did have, however, was an encyclopaedic knowledge of the party in Kerala. So did Karunakaran – which is why when Karunakaran left the Congress, Chandy went on record as saying that throughout his life, Karunakaran did little but damage the party internally.

Antony got one more term as CM in 2001 when the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) swept the Kerala Assembly elections. This time, Chandy – who has been home and finance minister in previous UDF governments – stayed out and became UDF convenor. Due to a variety of factors – including sabotage by Karunakaran – the Congress was unable to win even one seat in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

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Antony resigned and Chandy became CM. During this stint, he put in place mega infrastructure projects, including the Vizhinjam port, Metro rail, the Sabarimala master plan and the Kannur airport. Dinesh Sharma was appointed his secretary. He recalled his first meeting with the CM: “The chief secretary advised me to go and see the CM. The scenes in his office were chaotic. There were people everywhere. He refused to prevent people from coming to see him. I finally met him in the bathroom – even there, he was surrounded by eight to ten people.”

This quality, of never preventing people from approaching him led to one of two ‘scams’ that clouded his political career. Although he was acquitted of all charges, the ‘solar scam’ led to him reluctantly accepting police advice that he meet people in a hall rather than allow them unimpeded entry into his office.

Convicted fraudster Saritha Nair, who is now in prison, and her accomplice floated a fictitious solar energy company called ‘Team Solar’ and cheated many by seeking investments with the promise of making them business partners or offering to install solar power units. They flaunted their ‘high connections’ to attract gullible investors. “Chandy never used to carry a phone. It was his assistants to whom you needed to speak to get in touch with him. Nair used her proximity to his assistant to dupe people. The solar scam forced him out of office. But it also forced him to build a hall that we used to call the ‘Saritha Memorial Hall,” Sharma recalled.

Chandy was more than a simple politician. He was a political tactician. He was the one who crafted the UDF’s policy towards the Ezhava (toddy tapper) community. Traditionally, the Ezhavas would always back the Left Democratic Front (LDF) – mostly the Communist parties. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had been wooing the Ezhavas aggressively. In fact, one of the first trips undertaken by Narendra Modi when the BJP campaign to launch him as prime minister began in 2013 was to a huge function to commemorate Ezhava spiritual leader Sree Narayana Guru at Sivagiri in Varkala district, where he spoke on the tragedy of untouchability – including political untouchability. The event set off alarm bells ringing in the Left parties because it was seen as an effort to attack a Left base.

Chandy was in his second term as chief minister. He saw all this and looked the other way. Ezhavas deserting the Left could only mean a boost to the UDF and the BJP was not strong enough to pose a challenge, he calculated. Muslims account for 27 per cent of Kerala population, while various Christian sects account for about 18 per cent. While large numbers from both religions back the LDF, the majority has always been with the UDF. What the BJP was doing was breaking the so-called Hindu monolith, much of which was with the LDF. That could only help the UDF.

In mass politics, Chandy never bore a grudge. “He kept putting up petitions asking the government to waive loans. We kept rejecting his petitions. It became embarrassing. But he never bore a grudge against us,” said a bureaucrat.

Michael Vethasiromoni, who was resident commissioner, Kerala House in Delhi, recalled, “He used to travel by train very often. As finance minister, he returned from Delhi to Trivandrum station as it was then known. His official vehicle was probably late. He just got into an auto and went home.”

The UDF, racked with bitterness and division, probably never needed a leader like Oommen Chandy more than it does today. His death is the end of an era of decent politics.