For the people of Puthuppally, who returned him to the Assembly unfailingly 12 times since 1970, he was the beloved ‘Kunjoonju’. For cadres and admirers in the Congress party, he went by two letters — OC. A quintessential man of the masses, Oommen Chandy, who breathed his last at the age of 80 in Bengaluru on Tuesday, July 18, was the last of the truly mass leaders in Congress in Kerala. His son Chandy Oommen took to social media to confirm that he had passed away.
Chandy, who served as the Chief Minister of Kerala for two terms (2004-2006, 2011-2016), died at a private hospital in Bengaluru while undergoing treatment for cancer. As a politician he drew his energies from being in a crowd, which defined his existence and his politics. Every Sunday, whenever possible, he made it a point to be back at his homestead in Puthuppally – Karottu Vallakalil – where people gathered to share their concerns with him. Similar crowds were part of his life at Cliff House, when he was the Chief Minister, and at Puthuppally, his residence in Thiruvananthapuram, which is named after his constituency.
Once during an interaction with a bunch of youngsters, the leader opened up about his love for the crowds. “I dislike — you could say I even hate or fear — being alone and I have to be in the middle of people. I am not a great philosopher or thinker and I do not even get time to read much. My entire life experiences have been derived from my interactions with people and I do not think I have suffered any loss,” he said.
Born on October 31, 1943, Chandy took his first name from his grandfather VJ Oommen, a member of the Travancore Legislative Council, the first law-making body of the erstwhile state of Travancore. Ironically, it was at the VJ Oommen Memorial UP School, named after his late grandfather, at Puthuppally that Chandy honed his political skills. During the ‘Orana Samaram’ (One anna strike) in 1958, he boycotted classes, raised slogans, and marched to the school as a newbie activist of the Kerala Students’ Union (KSU). Orana Samaram, held against the decision of the EMS Namboothiripad-led Communist government to raise the tariff for buses and boats by one anna, is considered a seminal agitation and was the launchpad of many young leaders including Vayalar Ravi and AK Antony.
A young Chandy fought his first electoral battle in 1970 against a formidable CPI(M) rival — EM George, the sitting MLA of Puthuppally. A senior leader of the Congress, KM Chandy, told him, “We would consider it a win even if you come second.” Oommen Chandy, who was barely 27, won by 7,288 votes and never looked back. He kept winning since then (1977, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, and 2021). By virtue of his five decade-long electoral wins, he holds the record of serving as an MLA in the Kerala Assembly for the most number of days.
Chandy became the Minister for Labour in the K Karunakaran government in 1977, and later handled portfolios like Home and Finance in coalition governments headed by the Congress. He became Chief Minister for the first time in 2004 and then again in 2011. He was the leader of Opposition from 2006-11 when CPI(M)’s VS Achuthanandan was the Chief Minister. He was at the vanguard of ‘A’ group, named after AK Antony, and guarded it with the zeal of a commander. In 1994, when Karunakaran, who helmed the ‘I’ group, denied a Rajya Sabha seat to MA Kuttappan, Chandy resigned as the Finance Minister and launched a tirade against him. A year later, Karunakaran had an unceremonious exit from the post of Chief Minister. Though his ouster was on account of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) spy scandal, everyone knew it was the result of seething inner party rivalry ever since the United Democratic Front (UDF) came to power in 1991. The Karunakaran government was also caught in a scandal related to the import of palm oil, but before Karunakaran’s resignation Chandy backed him to the hilt despite the group rivalry.
The most tumultuous period in Chandy’s political life came when he served as Chief Minister from 2011 to 2016. The solar scam rocked his government in 2013 when a woman named Saritha Nair and her then live-in partner cheated people by collecting money for solar panels and not supplying them. Chandy faced heat when it was known that three of his staff members had personal contacts with Saritha. Saritha later levelled charges of sexual exploitation against several Congress leaders, including Chandy. In December 2022, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) submitted a report to the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court clearing Chandy’s name in the sexual exploitation case, bringing him some solace.
Chandy, who had been battling cancer for long, had sought treatment at a hospital in Germany in November 2022. Allegations made by a few of his relatives that he was not being given proper treatment was later denied by Chandy himself, but the row it sparked led to him being admitted first to a hospital in Neyyattinkara from where he was airlifted to Bengaluru.
Chandy is survived by his wife Mariamma and children Maria, Achu, and Chandy.