KOCHI: The only practising Communist in the CPM’s top leadership is now a benign memory. For a world so used to new age CPM leaders buzzing around in large cars constantly talking corporate lingo into cell phones, E Balanandan was a surprise.
He was the only leader in the party who has come up through the ranks after starting his life as an electrician in the Indian Aluminium Company. But he didn’t join the IAC nurturing political ambitions. There are several factors to which old-timers attribute his decision to plunge into trade union activity. One is that the turning point in his life was the death of an Anglo-Indian colleague who was denied compensation by the company.
But the more circulated one reflects the true camaraderie among two leaders of the forties who focused their youth and energy on the emerging industrial belt of Kerala - the Aluva-Kalamassery belt. Then CPI leader K C Mathew, the man believed to have `discovered’ the leader in Balanandan, still leads an unsung life in Kochi. It’s said that Mathew invited Balanandan to one of the wayside meetings while the latter was returning home after his shift.
That informal gathering gave Balanandan the necessary direction to dedicate himself to the emerging cause of trade unionism.
He soon took on more serious responsibilities, including couriering secret letters to leaders in hiding; sometimes walking several miles to evade the attention of prowling police till he was forced to go into hiding.
Camouflaging himself as a sanyasin, Balanandan gave the law the slip. This spiritual escapade earned him the name Swamy which even PB colleagues preferred to another acronym of initials. All those who have worked in industrial units during that time will remember his presence, which soon found a niche in all their hearts. Many a time the Swamy touch was felt in their lives, with his wife Sarojini strengthening his hands by reaching out to the better halves of the labour class. They were household names for thousands in the lowest strata of society.
This emotion never changed even after Swamy became an MP, MLA and even the national president of the CITU; yet another challenge for any new age leader.
Without a second thought one can declare that there will not be another Balanandan in communist history. There were, and will be, leaders with greater intellect than his. But the new party, with most leaders being referred to as `campus recruits’, leaves no room for an ordinary worker to prove his leadership skills and climb the ladder to not only reach the top post, but also end up as a local satrap. Of course, the party cannot be blamed given the fact that it has issues ranging from Palestine to Iraq and Iran and Ottapalam to Onchiyam to deal with. Luckily, Swamy had only labour woes to worry about.