Unlike his fellow partymen Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was civil, his death leaves a void in state politics of Kerala
A Communist and a Gentleman are two mismatched terms. To be precise, it is an oxymoron description. But Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, CPI(M) leader and former home minister of Kerala who breathed his last on Saturday night stood out as an exception to this usage. Starting as an ordinary activist of the Kerala Students Federation (the predecessor to the Students Federation of India), Balakrishnan rose through the ranks with his organizational skills and leadership qualities to become the home minister of the State and then the party’s Kerala secretary. Kodiyeri, an innocuous village in the Kannur district figured in the national political landscape only because of Balakrishnan. For an average Keralite, whether he is the camp follower of the Congress or BJP or the Muslim League, Kodiyeri meant Balakrishnan and vice versa. Balakrishnan, who was the home and tourism minister during the tenure of V S Achuthanandan as chief minister (2006-2011) is the only politician in the State to come out of that office without a blemish.
While Communists, especially the Marxists in Kerala and elsewhere are strangers to civility and dignity, Balakrishnan, a hardcore Marxist, remained a pleasing personality. There were no instances in his career when he reportedly lost his cool and temper. He was dear to the public because he spoke their language and the Keralites saw in him a mirror image of themselves. Upcoming politicians should take a cue from Balakrishnan who rose from humble beginnings and became a member of the CPI(M)’s Polit bureau, the apex national body of the Marxists.Balakrishnan steered the CPI(M) for six years as its secretary. No other past secretaries had commanded the kind of popularity he had enjoyed among the masses cutting across party lines. The recent Party Congress (the triennial conclave of the CPI(M)) held at Kannur was a standing monument of his leadership qualities. At a time when people were skeptical about the move to hold such a massive event amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, Balakrishnan who was in semi-retirement due to illness, staged a comeback to make the event a grand success. The only blot on his five decades-long pubic life was caused by his two sons who faced charges ranging from narcotics trade and money laundering. But Balakrishnan was bold enough to declare that they themselves would face the charges while neither he nor the party had any role in it. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was a Communist and a Gentleman.