K.M. Mani belongs to the first generation of youngsters entering the world of politics in post-independent India. The agrarian crisis and the fall in prices the farmers faced in the post-World War-II era were some of the factors that prompted a section of the youth in those days to join politics. The central Travancore region was one of the places worst hit by the agrarian distress. Even well-to-do peasants with a holding of 10-15 acres land were struggling to lead a decent life due to the crisis and many of them in the Meenachil taluk and neighbouring areas opted to sell their land and migrate to Malabar looking for better prosp-ects. The agrarian distress had its impact on politics too leading to pressure groups emerging in the Indian National Congress espousing the interest of farmers and couched in specific regional aspirations.
The formation of the Kerala Congress and the emergence of leaders such as Mani have to be located in this background. This phenomenon was seen in West Bengal in the form of Bangla Congress, in Odisha as Oriya Congress and in Uttar Pradesh as Bharatiya Kranti Dal. The debacle suffered by the Congress in the 1967 elections provided further impetus to this process.
Mani Sir, as he is fondly known amongst the political and social circles, started as a district-level leader of the Congress and soon he emerged as the leader of Kerala Congress, which was formed in 1965. He was amongst the 23 MLAs elected under the Kerala Congress ticket in the aborted 1965 Assembly elections.
The Kerala politics in the 1960s was dominated by the theme of land rights and land reforms. The land reforms ensured land rights for the lease-holders. The land belonging to the non-plantation sector also came under the purview of land refo-rms.
The period was marked by the spread of cultivation of rubber and other plantation crops in the central Travancore region.
The Kerala Congress was ideally suited to take up the new set of issues, including the import policy of the Union government that emerged in the agrarian sector with the spread of rubber and other plantations. Mani Sir then emerged as the most efficient and articulate spokesperson of the interest of this new class of farmers in the state.
Another major achievement of Mani Sir was his vociferous championing of the cause of the farmers migrated to the high-range districts of the state. He and the Kerala Congress became synonymous with the struggle for the title-deed rights of these farmers. The struggle is as important as the land reforms in the state.
The quality of Mani Sir as an exemplary leader was most evident the way he chartered the course of politics of the Kerala Congress through the turbulent waters of coalition politics in the state. He showed an extraordinary capacity to negotiate splits, forming new alliances and formations. The extraordinary flexibility shown by him was instrumental in getting the Kerala Congress a distinct identity and space in the political sphere in Kerala. It is no wonder that Kerala Congresses are there in all three major political formations in the state.
The Kerala Congress has completed more than half century in the state’s politics; Mani Sir has departed after laying the foundations for the next half century for the party. His legacy will be part of an enduring memory of Kerala.
(The writer is general secretary of Communist Marxist Party. As told to K.P. Sethunath)
