Kerala might have witnessed political blockbusters before, but never a show quite like this.
The final journey of former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy that concluded in Kottayam on July 20 turned out to be one of the biggest farewells bestowed on a public personality by the masses in the State till now. The veteran Congress leader, known for striking an unparalleled chord with those at the grassroots, bid a lengthy adieu to the State as the funeral cortege carrying his coffin took a day and another couple of hours to cover a distance of roughly 150 kilometres between Thiruvananthapuram and Kottayam, his home town.
Also read: Former Kerala CM Oommen Chandy passes away at 79
En route, the entire road was jammed with crowds, who lined up on both sides of the Main Central road to pay their last respects to their favourite leader. Meanwhile, a far bigger audience was watching the procession live on the television while the event was also trending top in news websites.
With the crowd ready to forsake their sleep overnight and brave the occasional down pour to catch a glimpse of their departed leader, the cortege had to be slowed down to walking pace on most points.
The hearse entered Kottayam district around 5.30 a.m. on Thursday and continued to move through a vast sea of humanity along the Changanassery Town. Mourners in the street, including women and children, locked arms and bowed their heads in a moment of silence while a few others raised slogans.
Many tossed flowers to show their respect for the beloved leader, such that the driver of the bus carrying the coffin had to sweep them away with the wind shield wipers. Among those who turned up to bid good bye to Chandy also included several community heads such as G. Sukamaran Nair, General Secretary of the Nair Service Society, Severios Kuriakose, Archbishop of the Kananaya Jacobite Archdiocese and an array of catholic priests and nuns.
“Is there going be anything momentous than this in the history of Kerala?’’, asked K. Sudhakaran, president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee. Now you can see what Oommen Chandy means to the masses’’, he added.
The Kottayam Town, meanwhile, has come to a standstill during the day as people, cutting across their political affiliations, poured into the Thirunakkara ground, where the leader’s mortal remains are currently kept for public viewing after a brief stop over in front of the Kottayam District Congress Committee (DCC) Office. Slogans hailing the late leader rented the air as the crowd frenzy hit a crescsndo when the coffin was finally taken out of the KSRTC bus and brought into the venue by 11 a.m., all amidst a thousand cell phone camera clicks.
Heart rending scenes were witnessed as several people, most of them ordinary women having their own stories of benevolence of their beloved leader, broke down on seeing their departed leader and eventually turned inconsolable.
The tight regulations imposed by the police notwithstanding, the venue has been overwhelmed by a crowd several times beyond its capacity since Wednesday evening. A host of film personalities including the veteran actors Mammotty, Suresh Gopi and Dileep had been waiting for hours to pay tributes to the leader.
The District Congress Committee, in association with the police and the District Administration has made elaborate arrangements to accommodate the crowd, which eventually proved inadequate. On behalf of the State government’s side, Cooperation Minister V. N. Vasavan, who had accompanied funeral cortège all throughout from the State capital, coordinated the arrangements along with the Water resources Minister Roshy Augustine and Kottayam MP Thomas Chazhikadan.
“Live events have always been nerve-racking to pull off but we have the authorities involved and the Congress behind it all’’ , said Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan MLA, Kottayam legislator and a senior Congress leader.
