Nair reservation for CM’s post?

Although the next assembly election is more than a year away, Congress in Kerala is being rocked from the inside over who will be its next Chief Minister. Leaders vying for the chair, after two difficult terms in the opposition, are involved in intense and open lobbying with various religious and caste outfits to ensure support. They seem to be certain that the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) will be denied a hat-trick by a huge anti-incumbency wave which they believe sweeps across the state.

However, 16 months, a long time in politics, is enough to upset the apple carts of even the most confident. The various acrobatics on display from Congress's wannabe CMs signal that the choice can be quite vexed even if the United Democratic Front (UDF) wins the election. A Wayanad Congress leader’s suicide note that puts the party leadership in the dock has also thrown an unexpected spanner into the UDF’s works. With the election fast nearing, more and more spectacular fireworks can be expected in the coming days that can make or mar the political destinies of many. 

Never in the past half-century had the Congress or the UDF faced a “problem of plenty” to choose its CM candidate as it does now. For over three decades, either K Karunakaran or A K Antony was tipped to the top post followed by the turn of Oommen Chandy. In 2021, Ramesh Chennithala, the Opposition leader was also uncontested as the next CM but the results dashed his plans and LDF made an unprecedented consecutive win. However, Chennithala was made to pay a further penalty by the High Command for the LDF victory by not letting him continue as the  Opposition leader. Instead, VD Satheesan became the new Opposition leader and thus bypassed Chennithala to be in the reckoning for the next CM’s seat. Chennithala found himself in the lurch subsequently and is now firing on all cylinders to regain his turn to the top post, with support from NSS, SNDP and Muslim League, the groups that formed his mentor Karunakaran’s strength. 

But, unlike in 2021, Chennithala is not the solitary contender now. The last four years have thrown up as many as four more top leaders to the fray: KC Venugopal, VD Satheesan, Shashi Tharoor and K Muraleedharan. Interestingly, all the contenders are also bound together by one special twain. They all belong to the Nair caste as if that is the mandatory qualification to be Congress’s next CM according to some convention. Despite being KPCC President, K Sudhakaran’s name appears omitted from the next CM candidate list, ostensibly because he is not a Nair.   

But what is the rationale and justification for this unofficial Nair reservation? During this writer’s four-decade-long career of reporting state politics, it had never occurred to me that though Karunakaran and Antony alternated as Congress CMs, their respective caste or community was a criterion for their choice. And, strictly speaking, Karunakaran was not even a Nair! And if the choice is between a Hindu and a Christian, why should it be a Nair to succeed Chandy? Why not an Ezhava or even an SC leader? Barring R Shankar, an Ezhava, no other member from castes “lower” than Nairs has ever become Congress’s CM. Once a strong presence, presently, Congress’s top leadership has not many Ezhavas/Thiyyas - except Sudhakaran- in the top line after prominent leaders like the late Vakkom Purushothaman, Vayalar Ravi, CV Padmarajan, Mullapalli Ramachandran and VM Sudheeran have almost retired, either voluntarily or compulsorily. 

But why not a Dalit CM, which Kerala has never had until now? Isn’t Kodikkunnil Suresh,  the Congress MP with the longest experience who has won an impressive eight times? He is presently the party’s Chief Whip in Lok Sabha, a Congress Working Committee member, and a former Union Minister of State and also former AICC Secretary. He is more senior to all the present candidates except Chennithala. Another senior Dalit leader Pandalam Sudhakaran has already been pushed to the margins. Just because Nair wannabees outnumber others, there's no law or convention in Congress that reserves the seat for them. A first Dalit CM from Congress can also be a formidable political and social blast against the Communists who swear by the backward castes but do not have many Dalits even as leaders. India’s general record is abysmal in this regard as it has had only 7 Dalit CMs with Bihar having produced two of them.  Only nine tribals have become CMs outside the tribal-dominated northeastern states in the 21st century and all of them belonged to either BJP or Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. However, two tribal CMs of Odisha -Hemananda Biswal and Giridhar Gamang- of the last century were from Congress. CPI(M)’s only tribal CM was Dasarath Deb of Tripura who was in office during 1993-98.   

And, beyond religion or caste, there remains one category that deserves most to be considered for the CMs post but has been pushed under the blanket by all political parties- women. Kerala is known universally for the achievements of her women who outnumber men in population. Scholars like Robin Jeffrey hold that the state's modernity and progress in health and education primarily owe to its womenfolk. Yet, Kerala has collectively conspired to keep women out of all positions of power, prompting observers to ponder over the “invisible Malayali woman” or the “enigma of the Kerala women”. Even Left parties that claim to be the paragons of progressive politics have perspired to keep women away from leadership. They were pushed out in the final lap by their own male comrades on the only two occasions when they came close to becoming CMs. Those who fell prey to the male machinations in the name of factionalism were KR Gouri and Susheela Gopalan, two legendary Malayali women. We all know what happened to KK Shailaja, the star minister and COVID slayer in the previous LDF government. 

Less said the better about other parties, including the Congress, where women leaders have been ignored and marginalised regularly and openly. In the distant past, legends like Akkamma Cherian and Anne Mascrene who had dared even the mighty king and the Diwan Sir CP Ramaswamy Aiyer were felled by the men in Congress. The party's recent electoral history is soaked with the tears of leaders like Lathika Subhash, Shanimol Usman, Ramani Nair, KC Rosakutty and Bindu Krishna. Leaders like Sobhana George and Simi Rosebell John left Congress protesting against male aggression and marginalisation. Isn't it a shame that the modern Kerala, created through the sweat, blood and tears of its women more than men has never had a CM even after the 21st century has completed a quarter of its life? It should be remembered that 12 Indian states, most of them far behind Kerala in social progress, can claim to have had at least one among the 17 women CMs independent India has had in the last 78 years. Ironically, the country's first woman CM emerged in Uttar Pradesh, one of the most socially backward (BIMARU) but politically critical states, as early as 1963. She was Sucheta Kripalani of the Congress to which belonged four more women CMs of the country. UP has the distinction of producing India’s only woman Dalit CM-Mayawati. UP’s 18th CM, Mayawati also has the unique credit of having come up through espousing her Dalit identity and a party, formed for the Dalit cause. The longest-serving woman CM also belonged to Congress - Sheila Dikshit who led Delhi for 15 years. Mayawati the 18th CM of UP is the only Dalit woman to hold that position. Despite South India being more socially advanced, with better gender indices than the North, Tamil Nadu is the only Southern state which had a woman at the helm- J Jayalalithaa of AIADMK, who was the second longest-serving CM. Interestingly, Tamil Nadu has had the woman CM with the shortest tenure -VN Janaki, who served for 23 days after her husband and Chief Minister, MG Ramachandran, died in 1988. Incidentally, the Vaikom-born Janaki is also the only Malayali woman to have become a CM.