THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The passing away of MI Shanavas, Wayanad MP and state congress working president, has created a major void in the party in Kerala. Shanavas, who entered the Congress politics as a KSU student-leader, was considered a politician who stood with the downtrodden and the marginalised. Shanavas was part and parcel of the inner circle of Karunakaran, but drifted apart from the veteran leader when K Muralidharan entered politics.
Shanavas was considered one of the pioneers in the formation of the reformist movement in the “I” Group of the Congress party along with Ramesh Chennithala and the late G Karthikeyan. The reformists were able to move across the state and lure into their fold a huge chunk of the young “I” group leaders, including sitting MLAs B Vijayakumar, Punalur Madhu, Alphonsa John, PJ Joy and AV Gopinath.
R Rajashekaran, Babu Prasad, and Manacadu Suresh were the then youth leaders who led the group from the front with MI Shanavas controlling the entire operations. Shanavas will be particularly remembered as one of the architects of the Congress party’s excellent relationship with all the Muslim outfits including the AP Sunni, EK Sunni, Jamaat-e-Islami and the warring Mujahid factions. Essentially, it was his personal relationship with the leaders of these Muslim groups that ensured their support for the Congress party.
It was his brilliant and strategic moves that led to the Sunni leader Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musaliar drawing closer to the UDF governments of Antony and Oommen Chandy.
He will also be remembered as one of the few Muslim leaders in the Congress party and one who had defended the party in all forums, including the party’s stance in the the Babri Masjid issue.
Shanavas was instrumental in anointing Vayalar Ravi as the KPCC President in 1992 February, pipping AK Antony in what was the last organisational elections of the state Congress.
This was one of the best victories that Karunakaran had gained in the party against the powerful “A” faction. He is also one of the few leaders in the Congress party who, after continuous electoral debacles, could come back and stage a huge victory in 2009 Lok Sabha polls from Wayanad. He had lost in five hustings earlier, including three assembly polls and two Lok Sabha elections. Shanavas, who had been struggling with intestinal diseases and a recurring liver ailment, had decided to go for a liver transplant and his daughter Ameena had donated the liver to him.
While he was showing signs of improvement, his health deteriorated following a total failure of kidneys, and the leader who had left an indelible mark in the state’s Congress politics passed away in the we hours on Wednesday, creating a major void in the Congress politics of Kerala.