KOCHI: Remember ‘Thevar Makan,’ in which Kamal Hassan played the role of a son who had to inherit the feudal legacy of his father, a little reluctantly? You will feel some resemblance to this when you look at the list of elected members in the 13th Assembly, which showcases as many as 15 kin of former legislative members.
The number makes this ‘privileged class’, cutting across party lines, a little above10 per cent in the 140-member Assembly. With exception of one, the list repeats in the coming elections, where they have an addition of 10 more in the league, which makes 24 inherited seats if all of them get elected. Not to be left behind to the sons, two daughters of former chief ministers - Sarada Mohan and Padmaja Venugopal - and daughter of a former minister - Amrita Ramakrishnan - are also in the race along with the sons of two former ministers - M V Nikesh Kumar and V R Sunil Kumar - and the son of a minister - Aryadan Shoukath.
Curiously, the son and daughter of former Chief Minister K Karunakaran are candidates this time. Most of them inherited this life from a life devoid of politics, where they earned professional degrees, including those of medical, engineering, journalism, management and computer science.
Political observers see it as a strong sign of feudal elements creeping into the democratic system of the state which will make its presence much more stronger in the coming years.
“Certainly they have an advantage over many others as they have a first-hand experience of politics from their home itself. However, it is definitely a sign of political decline,” says N M Pearson, son of the late Communist leader N K Madhavan. He adds that a generation of leaders, including his father, had strong opposition to the induction of their relatives into the political system as it would hamper the chances of many others.
This is evident in the case of Congress leader V V Prakash, who was considered to be a top contender for Nilambur as incumbent Aryadan Mohammed expressed his unwillingness to contest. However, the seat ‘went’ to Aryadan’s son Shoukath, who, incidentally has an impeccable political graph as the president of Nilambur panchayat and chairman when it became a municipality. It has to be noted that the seat has a unique record of having the shortest term of MLA C Haridas, who relinquished the seat to accommodate Aryadan Mohammad, in just 10 days after taking oath as an MLA in 1980.
The political Lineage
Filmy Twist
Aryadan Shoukath has been in politics since his early school days and became a leader of the Kerala Students Union (KSU) at his school. He became the president of Nilambur panchayat in 2005 and later the chairman of the municipality. Despite being the son of a seasoned politician Aryadan Mohammed, Shoukath’s interests lay in movies. “I am a social worker who never wished to enter mainstream politics. I never considered the advantage of being the son of Aryadan Mohammed. All I wanted to do is to expose the evils in society and strive towards addressing them,” says Shoukath.
The ‘Elder’ Son
Incumbent minister M K Muneer, son of former Chief Minister C H Mohammed Koya, is the seniormost among the members who inherited seats from their family members in the present Assembly. Muneer, a doctor by profession, was elected to the Assembly in 1991 at the age of 29 from the erstwhile Calicut-II and became a minister within 10 years.
Upholding Father’s Legacy
P S Supal, a member of the 10th Assembly, entered electoral politics after the demise of his father P K Sreenivasan, who contested in the general elections and won, but couldn’t take the oath of office. The 26-year-old was elected in the byelection that was necessitated following his father’s death, a member of the fifth and sixth Assemblies, on May 7, 1996.
Father-son in Assembly
CPM member Saju Paul is placed in the opposite camp of his late father who was a Congressman, though he represents the same constituency. If Dr Jayaraj and Sreyamsakumar made their entry into the Assembly from the seats that were earlier won by their fathers, only K B Ganesh Kumar and Balakrishna Pillai sat together in the same Assembly.
Wives’ Turn
Rachel Sunny Panaveli and Elizabeth Mammen Mathai became MLAs when their husbands died while serving as MLAs. Rachel Sunny Panaveli was elected to the seventh Assembly from Ranni in the byelection necessitated following the death of Sunny Panaveli. Elizabeth Mammen Mathai was elected to the eleventh Assembly from Tiruvalla after the death of Mammen Mathai. Both of them did not contest again.
‘Accidental’ Politician
Thomas Chazhikkadan, a bank officer by profession, had to take a plunge into politics when his brother Babu Chazhikkadan died of lightning while he was campaigning as a candidate in the Ettumanoor constituency in 1991. Though Thomas Chazhikkadan won the election by a thin margin in his first attempt, he continued to represent the constituency for three more times till 2006. This time also, he is a candidate from Ettumanoor constituency.
The Sons’Cabinet
In the 20-member Oommen Chandy Cabinet, which had six sons, the seniormost member is P K Abdu Rabb, 67, who was first elected to the Assembly in 1996 from Thirurangady, which was earlier represented by his father K Avukader Kutty Naha, a veteran Muslim League leader and former Deputy Chief Minister. K B Ganesh Kumar (resigned later), K P Mohanan, Shibu Baby John and Anoop Jacob are the other sons who followed their fathers in the Cabinet along with M K Muneer. Ganesh and Anoop became Cabinet members in their first term to the Assembly.
‘Son’Rise in 11th Assembly
While the 11th Assembly saw four sons - Ganesh Kumar, K P Mohanan, Shibu Baby John and Saju Paul - rising, the next one added three more - K Ajith, M V Sreyamskumar and Dr N Jayaraj.
The Inheritors
The present Assembly has the largest number of ‘inheritors,’ with six more members inheriting seats from their family members. They include Jameela Prakasam, who was active in student politics and who returned to the mainstream after a long gap. However, she did not follow the politics or inherit the Assembly seat from her father R Prakasam, but that of her husband A Neelalohithadasan Nadar.
M K Muneer
Dr M K Muneer, entered politics with the legacy of his father C H Mohammed Koya, who was a veteran leader of the Muslim League and served as the chief minister of Kerala. “Being the son of a legendary father, I have more responsibility towards society. People will expect more from me and I always try to keep up his legacy. People always shower their love and care on me. We will have to do more than what our fathers did to society”, says Muneer.
P K Abdu Rabb
I am proud of being part of his legacy and in fact I am very much thankful to him. I have always enjoyed love and consideration from the public and from the political fraternity. He is my life’s biggest inspiration for submitting my entire life to social work and politics
P K Basheer
My father was always an inspiration for me to enter politics. I always want to follow his motto in politics - that is to stand for the common people and be the voice of their needs. He always advised me to follow my instinct and do what is right
