I was an Intermediate student when I came to know about K Karunakaran in 1952. I got the opportunity to work with him since 1958 in INTUC. From there, we had a very close association, which lasted even today.
He was a shrewd politician who was never ready to compromise on failures. He was a fighter and no one could dampen his spirits.
His commitment and stubbornness are much popular in the political circles. If he wished to do something he will not sit back until he achieves it. That was his speciality.
If one could recollect his major contribution to the State, I would say it was the manner in which he decimated naxalism. When the Centre and a host of State Governments are struggling hard to find a solution to the insurgency even today, Karunakaran was successful in resolving this menace in the 1970s. That was him. In the 1970s it was Kerala, which was under the severe threat of naxalism than West Bengal.
Many had feared that Kerala would fast become the breeding ground of naxalism and the State Government will face a severe threat. But it was the decisions of Karunakaran that saved the State, though no one gave the credit to him.The Nedumbassery airport is the perfect monument for Karunakaran. At a time when no one could even dream of a public-private partnership, the visionary in Karunakaran had planned it much before. It even stands as a perfect role model for the entire country. I still remember how Karunakaran secured the sanction for this airport. It was during PV Narasimha Rao Government that Karunakaran had gone with the proposal.
The then Civil Aviation Minister Gulam Nabi Azad was asked to come to the Kerala House and was asked to sign the papers for approval.
He was so powerful in New Delhi during that period.
Everybody knows the role he played in anointing PVN as the Prime Minister of the country when the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi left a vacuum in the power structure of the Congress. Karunakaran was the brain behind the building up of a strong democratic front in the State, which even today we are continuing with. He realised the need for the coalition politics in the state even before the 70s. His main quality was the speed in which he used to take decisions and the stubbornness in implementing it, come what may.