KOCHI: For the last four days, K Karunakaran had occupied every inch of news space in newspapers and every second of air time on news channels. The days to come won't be much different with K-death follow ups likely to invade a lion's share of news space.
As is the practice, K-praise filled the media. Pages and pages were devoted to reaffirm how great a leader had been Karunakaran. Channel debate experts competed with each other in showering praises on the late leader.
It is true that K Karunakaran was a pragmatic visionary who contributed much to the development of Kerala. It is true that Karunakaran's politicking prevented Kerala from becoming another Bengal draped in a red flag. You can never name a Congress leader who had nurtured as many young leaders as Karunakaran had.
But, are there only rosy tales to ruminate about the leader? Is he a great leader who kept his political and moral ideals above everything? Is he the one who was guided in the public life by pure love towards his fellow beings? Did he believe in democracy? Was corruption a taboo for him? If one flips through the annals of Kerala history during Karunakaran's regime, it is more likely that he may find a big 'No' as the answer to these queries.
The single episode of K Karunakaran protecting the brutal police officers who murdered Rajan during the Emergency alone proves that he had no qualms in compromising humaneness. Eachara Warrier, the father of Rajan, had remembered on several occasions how Karunakaran tried to mislead his search for Rajan. The recent HC verdict sentencing former IG K Lakshmana in the Naxal Varghese murder case proves how severe was the crime committed by Karunakaran and a group of senior police officers in the Rajan case.
Karunakaran rose to a power centre in Kerala during the Emergency and there is a story about the then Chief Minister C Achutha Menon complaining to Indira Gandhi about how Home Minister K Karunakaran insulted him continuously by grabbing more power than what a Home Minister was supposed to hold. Indira Gandhi might have been happy hearing that as she had found his disciple number two there (the first, of course, is Sanjay Gandhi).
The post-Emergency years also witnessed the authoritarian style of rule by Karunakaran. He hadn't cared for his party's feelings at all. In fact, to him, party was not bigger than his group and his group was as small as a kitchen cabinet. It was this style that earned him the support of bureaucrats and police officers. Karunakaran was more of a leader of bureaucrats than a leader of the masses. No wonder, BSF Director-General and an NIA top cop rushed to pay homage to him from New Delhi.
As a Congress leader, Karunakaran resolutely nurtured a style that is unsuitable for any democratic party. All those who were willing to carry his suitcase or prostrate before him were elevated to key posts. On every first day of the Malayalam month, there was a long queue of aspiring Congress leaders at Guruvayur as all of them wanted to prove in front of their leader that they too were staunch devotees of Lord Guruvayurappan and were eligible enough to take away a part of his legacy. When the time was ripe, he deceitfully launched both his son and daughter to Kerala politics, thus slamming doors on a number of aspiring young leaders. The formation of DIC(K) and its consequent merger with the NCP proved beyond an iota of doubt that Karunakaran was willing to go to any extent to protect his and his son's selfish interests.
The real greatness of that man is that he could smartly hide all these negatives and earn the respect of tens of thousands of Keralites by his tricky smile and doubleedged usages. The 18hour long funeral procession from Thiruvananthapuram to Thrissur the other day once again proved that Keralites loved Karunakaran despite all these negatives.