In mid-June, a black-and-white video clip had Kerala바카라s social media landscape in a sepia mood as viewers caught a rare glimpse into the married life of T.V. Thomas and K.R. Gowri Amma, two of the state바카라s tallest Communist icons and its most-storied political pairing. The 90-second clip captures the couple sharing a meal at their Alapuzha home and at work in their respective ministries. That the reportedly 60-year-old visuals바카라which would make them date back to the first, and legendary, EMS cabinet바카라would go viral was a given, considering the enduring popularity both of the union and Gowri Amma herself, widely considered the best chief minister Kerala never had.
On Tuesday, the firebrand leader turned 101, blowing the candles on her birth centenary, all befitting the occasion바카라barring the conspicuous absence of the huddle of political figures that marked the day last June. As he did in person on that occasion, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan duly felicitated Gowri Amma on social media by noting that the 바카라political history of Kerala바카라 and growth of Communism in the state cannot be written without accounting for her.
For a time, however, it seemed as if it might.
The first woman advocate from the Ezhava community, Gowri Amma바카라s ascent from being one of the party바카라s doughtiest grassroots workers at the van of hugely influential trade union, farmer and worker movements to helming the crucial revenue portfolio in both E.M.S. Namboodiripad바카라s ministries was meteoric. Those portfolios make her the only surviving member of the world바카라s first democratically elected Communist government바카라that happened in 1957 in Kerala, if you discount a minor precursor in the 바카라microstate바카라 of San Marino.
That star rose further after she piloted a historic land reforms bill that catalysed important and long-lasting political, socio-cultural and economic changes in the state. Not to mention, deeply symbolic: an Ezhava woman formally scripting the end of centuries-old feudalism had that same striking historical resonance as Ambedkar writing the modern Indian Constitution.
But as a prominent woman public figure, especially one that dared to disturb the ancien regime, what she had to endure was misogynistic putdowns바카라a whole history of them, in fact. There was no dearth of slogans that were merely nasty, sexualised jibes in rhyme during the Congress- and Church-led 바카라vimochana samaram바카라 (liberation struggle) against the first EMS ministry. But that was only one bit.
Her private life came in for undue scrutiny and harsh criticism, particularly her marriage to Thomas (the labour and transport minister in the first EMS government). When the Communist Party split in 1964바카라a hugely contentious period in the state바카라s history바카라the couple even ended up in opposing factions, lending the union a persistent 바카라star-crossed바카라 quality that has sometimes overshadowed her many achievements in public memory.
Like her historic land reforms bill, a watered-down version of which took a decade to come into force, Gowri Amma too would have to wait to receive her due. A three-decade-long wait.
바카라Following the Communists바카라 victory in 1987, it was thought that her time had finally come. Throughout the election, her name was everywhere on the campaign trail. After stints in the agriculture, social welfare and justice chairs, besides leading the party바카라s farmers바카라 and womens바카라 wings, she had been well-groomed for the top job. But the patriarchal mindset prevalent in the party caused her to be sidelined following the election in favour of E.K. Nayanar,바카라 says eminent journalist and political observer B.R.P. Bhaskar.
바카라In fact, her career trajectory reflects both the ascent and descent of a women바카라s empowerment renaissance in Kerala. Till date, the CPI(M) in Kerala has not been able to find a more efficient administrator than Gowri Amma, who enjoyed a good rapport with the bureaucrats under her. And perhaps only the present health minister K.K. Shailaja has come close to her stature and popularity as a woman political leader. Her principled stand on a number of concerns, including the Adivasi land issue (she was the lone voice of dissent against attempts to pare down a 1975 law that would have returned lost forest lands to Adivasis) now offer hints at what might have been,바카라 he adds.
The next 바카라betrayal바카라, a more enduring one, came in 1994. Gowri Amma was expelled from the CPI(M) for 바카라anti-party바카라 activities. She remained active in politics through the Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy (JSS) party she floated, which became part of the Congress-lead United Democratic Front (UDF) for a time. In the mid-2000s, Gowri Amma would serve as agriculture minister under UDF CMs A.K. Antony and Oommen Chandy.
It was only later, when her name (still) carried more power than her aging frame would permit her to wield, that overt overtures바카라like grand functions on her birthday바카라began to bring her back into the Left fold.
바카라Leaders who were silent bystanders when she was expelled now invoke her name openly and call for her to return. Even today, Gowri Amma replies to such entreaties with a question, 바카라Why was I thrown out in the first place?바카라 And to that, there is no comfortable answer,바카라 Bhaskar says.
