A political man. If one wants to sum up the life of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan in two words, the title of his biography ‘Kodiyeri Oru Rashtreeya Manushyan’ by PS Sreekala would fit the bill. While being astutely political, Kodiyeri, who passed away on October 1, Saturday, after protracted illness, was also an affable man of consensus, a quality which made him endearing to even political opponents.
Born in 1953 in Kodiyeri village near Thalassery in Kannur, the Red Bastion district of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), as the son of Kunhunni Kurup, a school teacher and Narayani Amma, Kodiyeri was at the helm of the party’s state unit for three consecutive terms. His tenure as the party Secretary witnessed two back-to-back election victories for the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front in 2016 and 2021. The transformation of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, with whom he shared a special bond, as an indisputable mass leader and a power centre in the party also happened under him.
Kodiyeri had his school education at the Junior Basic School in Thalassery and later at the Oniam High School, where he honed his organisational skills at a young age. He managed to get 15 students to attend the first meeting of the Kerala Students Federation at the school and was elected the unit secretary in the first meeting. Pinarayi Vijayan, the current Chief Minister of Kerala, was the state secretary of the KSF then.
While a Pre-University student at the MG College in Mahe, he was elected the college Union Chairman. He also served as the State Secretary (1973-79) and All India Joint Secretary of the Students Federation of India (SFI).
After being elected SFI State Secretary in 1973, Kodiyeri joined the University college in Thiruvananthapuram for graduation and based his party activities from the state capital since then. He was arrested in the midnight of June 25, 1975, the day Emergency was declared. The arrest was under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA).
One of the youngest among political prisoners, Kodiyeri was under incarceration for one-and-a-half years. Pinarayi Vijayan, who was arrested during the same time, was also an inmate of Kannur prison then. Kodiyeri’s decision to become a full time politician happened during his incarceration.
Kodiyeri became the District President of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) in 1980, a position he held for two years before joining electoral politics.
His maiden electoral victory was from Thalassery in Kannur in 1982. He was elected again as an MLA from the same constituency in 1987. He represented the Assembly constituency in 2001, 2006 and 2011. Kodiyeri was elected to the State Committee of the party at the age of 35 during the state conference held in Alappuzha in 1988. He became the District Secretary of Kannur next year.
In 1996 during the Kollam conference, Kodiyeri was elected to the State Secretariat, the highest state-level decision making body of the CPI(M).
In 2008, during the Coimbatore party conference, Kodiyeri became a CPI(M) politburo member. He was chosen as the State Secretary in 2015, when Alappuzha hosted the state conference. His elevation to the party’s topmost post in Kerala came after Pinarayi Vijayan stepped down after a period of 17 years. The Alappuzha state conference took place when factionalism was rife within the party and the state committee was reconstituted, leaving out VS Achuthanandan for the first time. Though Kodiyeri remained a close confidante of Pinarayi Vijayan, this never stopped him from maintaining cordial relation with Achuthanandan, whom Vijayan considered his bete noire. It was this philosophy of political diplomacy to keep a door open even for people in the opposite political camp that distinguished Kodiyeri Balakrishnan from others.
The party was confident enough to give him a second term in 2018 but he stepped aside due to health reasons in 2020. A Vijayaraghavan held the charge of the State Secretary during this period. The mandate to helm the party’s state unit fell on him again when the state conference was held in Ernakulam this year.
In 2020, Kodiyeri faced one of the biggest crises in life after the Enforcement Directorate arrested his son Bineesh Kodiyeri under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) over his alleged links with a Bengaluru drug dealer. A case against his other son Binoy Kodiyeri, after a woman complained of sexual exploitation, also brought him ignominy in the same year.