Kerala’s two-time Chief Minister and Congress veteran Oommen Chandy, MLA, 79, passed away at a private hospital in Bengaluru at 4.25 a.m. on Tuesday, July 18, 2023.
Doctors attributed the cause of death to complications arising from a prolonged fight with cancer.
Mr. Chandy had battled poor health for nearly two years and briefly sought treatment in Germany. However, his condition worsened in recent days, compelling doctors to put him on life support. His death prompted a flood of tributes from leaders across the political spectrum.
Served Puthupally for more than half a century
Mr. Chandy’s election to the Legislative Assembly from the Puthupally constituency in the Kottayam district catapulted him to the centre stage of Congress politics in Kerala in the 1970s. He served the constituency for the next 53 years. Puthupally never broke faith with him since.
Mr.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.
Mr. Chandy’s passing could not have come at a worse time for the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) opposition buffeted by bickerings, defections, political headwinds and relentless forays by rivals into its Christian-dominated traditional heartlands in Central and North Kerala.
Mr. Chandy’s genial affability and natural authority gained through five demanding decades in parliamentary politics often helped keep the coalition together, even when its hold on power was tenuous, as in 2011-16 when UDF won the assembly elections by a slender margin.
Even when beset by political scandals and aggressive anti-government protests stemming from the infamous solar scandal and bar bribery cases, Mr. Chandy negotiated his government through its worst crises with a steady nerve and nuanced sureness of touch.
Later, Mr. Chandy downplayed the security breach and told journalists he did not want to inconvenience the public by further upping his security.
In several politically critical periods when Congress and UDF found themselves at the crossroads, Mr. Chandy’s almost magical combination of strategy, tactics, diplomacy and bipartisan camaraderie carried the day for the party and the alliance.
When the brooding storm clouds finally receded and the sun emerged, Mr. Chandy stood tall as a popular and calming figure.
Mr. Chandy was a pleasant and immensely approachable presence on the State’s political scene. He came across as a genial and liberal counterpart to several more combative and inaccessible politicians of his time.
An incident at the Chief Minister’s office in the Government Secretariat on August 4, 2011, testified to Mr. Chandy’s celebrated courteousness.
Returning to his room after a cabinet meeting, Mr. Chandy found a man propped on his chair behind the Chief Minister’s desk.
Mr. Chandy often allowed visitors to linger in the Chief Minister’s chamber even when he was away to chair official meetings. A webcam constantly podcasted the comings and goings in Mr. Chandy’s office as a public sign of transparency in governance.
Mr. Chandy prevented the security personnel from hustling the mentally distressed person away to the next-door Cantonment police station.
Mr. Chandy insisted that police slap no charge against the “intruder” and ordered that he be escorted home unmolested.
Mr. Chandy’s empathetic approach to governance became evident in his decision as Labour Minister in the 1980s to extend unemployment allowance to lakhs of educated jobless youth in the State.
During his first stint as Chief Minister during the 2004-06 period, Mr. Chandy set the ball rolling on mega infrastructure projects, including Vizhinjam port, metro rail, Sabarimala master plan and Kannur airport, to name a few.
Mass contact programme
During his second tenure as Chief Minister from 2011-16, Mr. Chandy launched the mass contact programme that promised immediate succour to needy people.
Thousands thronged the public venues, mostly large stadiums, where Mr. Chandy heard and settled the grievances of individuals in person. He sat on the stage from dawn to late into the night, shunning refreshment or rest to listen to citizens.
Mr. Chandy also coined the phrase “fast and far” to highlight his government’s resolve to expedite the State’s development.
However, bad publicity from scandals, some sordid, battered the second Oomen Chandy government despite the Chief Minister’s best intentions.
The incidents reportedly caused Mr. Chandy to perceive politics with a touch of sorrow-filled regret, even though he would subsequently emerge unscathed from the torturous trials by fire.
The Left Democratic Front (LDF) stormed back to power in 2016. A person close to Mr. Chandy said the leader often privately mused that if the UDF had come to power for a second time, he would have fulfilled his destiny to emerge as an inspiring and transformative Chief Minister of Kerala.
