Adieu Karunakaran!

With the demise of veteran Congress leader K. Karunakaran, an era is over. Freedom fighter, Congress' national leader, efficient administrator - a versatile personality. Even his rivals and people who loved to hate him could not help but respect him. He started his political career as a teenage Congress worker and soon joined the ranks of freedom fighters in the 1940s. Then he joined trade union work in Thrissur as part of his Congress politics. Later, he started his innings in legislature.

He won Kerala assembly elections several times. He became Chief Minister of Kerala 4 times. He made to Rajya Sabha and served as an industries minister under Narasimha Rao regime. Credit of Narasimh Rao's ascendance to the country's premiership goes to none other than Karunakaran. He was a king-maker par excellence. But, his intransigent wish to groom his children to the state party leadership boomeranged to him. It resulted in the resignation of father, son and daughter from their alma mater, a century-old Congress party. During the period of political divorce, he did not spare a single word of scold against Antony, Ahmed Patel and even Sonia Gandhi.


Karunakaran went to the extent of even supporting CPM sponsored candidate in the Lok Sabha by-election in Kochi in 2003 and saw that he (Left candidate) defeated his own party's candidate. His plan was to take his Democratic Indira Congress party to Left Front. It did not materialise, thanks to the shrewd stand of present chief minister of Kerala and veteran CPM leader, VS Achuthannandan. Despite these wars of nerves he managed an 'Operation back home' for himself and his daughter. But, his son, a former MP, former minister and former PCC chief, K. Muraleedharan has still not managed to stage a come back. Even though senior high command man and defence minister AK Antony has been in a mood of forgiving his bete noir, his followers have not still been in a mood to give in.


Despite his consistent involvement in the group politics and rivalry with Antony faction, Keralites remember him as the man of development. Cochin International Airport, international stadium, Gosree Bridges linking Ernakulam mainland and Vypeen Islands are testimonies of his development acumen. The international airport is the first one in the whole world under co-operative sector, a public-private sector initiative.


So, a man who devised the first ever Congress-Communist Party of India, the man who played the role of king-maker in elevating Naransimha Rao to the premiership, the man whose name was in the wind as the prime minister of India in 1991, the man once told Mrs Indira Gandhi that he prefers Chief Minister of Kerala to the President of India has finally quit the field.