OJ's Corner

REFLECTIONS

Is the jinx that allows only upper castes to rule the State being broken ?
With the anticipated coronation of V S Achuthanandan as Chief Minister after the election results coming out on May 11, it would appear that there has been a breakthrough. But can the caste conundrum be cut to size and the non-upper caste CM continue to rule us ?

That is a big "if" for the people of Kerala, which Swami Vivekananda called a lunatic asylum of casteism. To emerge out of the vice-grip of this Mighty Being holding the reins disregarding the political permutations and combinations has been next to impossible.

A close look at the post-Independence regimes reveals that only upper caste leaders could successfully pull through. Leaders of backward classes and minorities were swept aside or pulled down whenever they were perched atop.

Congress leader R.Shankar, an Ezhava stalwart, could not complete his term as CM. Of course, there were reasons many which had gone against his government. Even if he had propitiated his opponents, there would have been other factors which proved to be his Achilles' heel.

What had happened to Chief Minister Mohamed Koya ? His Ministry continued for a few days only. If Koya did not make it, no one elsein the IUML can aspire to lead the State.

In spite of the best practices, Utopian idealism and image of A K Antony, his regimes were on slippery slope. His first two tenures could safely be termed as stop-gap arrangements. He took over first when K Karunakaran called it a day following the Rajan case imbroglio. Second time also, he filled the gap of Karunakaran who was forced out on the ISRO espionage issue.

Of course, Antony's third term could be reckoned as his regular Chief Ministership. But all forces had arrayed against him and bayed for his blood.

The debacle of all the Congress candidates in the Lok Sabha elections, driven by the collective opposition, had ensured his ouster.

His successor Oommen Chandy,with all his populism and political camaraderie on the one side and sharp-shooting action against mischief-makers on the other, has of late been moving lame duck.

The Mighty Brain, holed up somewhere and pervading the interiors of the minds of various political persuasions, had already crafted an epitaph for the Oommen Chandy dispensation, iun spite of the fact that OC was the best bet for the UDF.

Was it any different in the left dispensations ? An undivided Communist Party could not allow the inimitableT V Thomas, considered an all-encompassing leader, to pick up the reins of its first government in 1957. Of course, after E M S Namboodiripad spread his wings on the administrative arena, no one could challenge him.

The saga of E K Nayanar, who had fooled everybody with his seemingly foolish but calculative demeanour, was about to be snuffed out to project the fire-brand K R Gowri Amma, hailing from the backward Ezhava caste, as the Chief Minister.

The saddest chapter of political history would be the denial of Chief Ministership to Gowri Amma at the time of reckoning. It could not be said to be a slip between the cup and the lip, for the Mighty Being had already intervened.

Gowri Amma and earlier her husband T V Thomas were mere players in this power game umpired by the overbearing Being, whose area of operation is not any single political party.

V S Achuthanandan, another Ezhava, was considered the cocksure CM last time.He was eliminated at the election itself.

This time he had to go through party rigmarole, pestering him on an unprecedented level. The more he was heckled, the more victorious he emerged. Will the Big Brother allow him breathing space this time after he becomes the CM ? Will the jinx be broken ?