ALAPPUZHA: Mercy Ravi, wife of Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi, who died of kidney failure early on Saturday at the Madras Medical Mission Hospital in Chennai was buried on the premises of Vayalar Ravi’s ancestral house at Vayalar in the evening. Her funeral rites were held with full state honours. She was 63.
Defence Minister A K Antony, former minister K R Gowri Amma, Opposition leader Oommen Chandy, KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala, former minister K M Mani, Union Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor, Education Minister M A Baby, Co-operation Minister G Sudhakaran and Alappuzha District Collector Mini Antony were present along with others from various socio-political organisations to pay their last respects to the deceased.
Police played the last post and offered gun salute in honour of the departed.
Shops and business firms in Vayalar remained closed as a sign of respect.
Police were deployed to control the crowd of mourners.
A former Congress legislator from Kottayam, Mercy died around 3 a.m.
Ravi and their three children were at her bedside when she died. She had been admitted to the hospital on August 27.
Born in a Christian family in Kochi, Mercy entered the political arena as a student activist. She and Ravi were married after an eight-year love affair, says former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.
“Ravi was senior to Mercy at the Maharaja’s College and the two got married in 1969 concluding a eight-yearlong love affair. Over the years, she had been the guiding force for Ravi. Apart from being Ravi’s wife, she was a politician who read a lot,” said Chandy.
“As the legislator from Kottayam from 2001-06, I was amazed at how she ran the affairs of her constituency. Her departure is certainly going to be a huge void for the party in the state,” he added. Mercy held several key posts in the Congress party and was general secretary of the party in the state and the Kerala Pradesh Mahila Congress.
At the national level, she was elected president of the Indian National Trade Union Congress’ women’s committee in 2000. It was at the fag end of her tenure in the Kerala assembly (2001-06) that her health deteriorated and she was constantly under treatment for kidney problems.
