KOTTAYAM: A good 53 years ago, when the Indira Congress fielded a 27-year-old against CPM stalwart E M George who was on a hat-trick from Puthuppally, not many people expected any surprises. When the youngster was fielded replacing Organisation Congress leader P C Cheriyan, of Padinjarekkara, even the Congress camp was not optimistic. Shocking political pundits, the young man emerged as the David who knocked down Goliath, in the September 1970 election. As they say, the rest is history.
Since then, Chandy and his Karottu Vallakalil house have been the face of Puthuppally. The rapport between Chandy and Puthuppally was so unique that the constituency never thought about an alternative. People here believe that Chandy gave them an identity.
“Wherever we go, we get identified as Chandy’s people when we say we are from Puthuppally,” said Kunjumon, Chandy’s childhood friend and neighbour. People thronged Karottu Vallakalil house every Sunday when Chandy used to come here to attend the Sunday mass at St George Orthodox Church.
More than offering prayers, Chandy and his people wanted to be with each other at least once a week. Kunjumon said he used to visit Chandy’s house every Sunday only to see him. Meanwhile, Chandy’s visit to the house and church on Sundays more often turned out to be an informal mass contact programme as people from across the state came down to Puthuppally seeking help.
In an interview given to TNIE, Chandy once said Puthuppally showered him with love and support more than he deserved. “It is not an exaggeration when I admit that their love and support influenced my character formation. Having a personal connection with each and every person here, I became soft in opposing even my political rivals. Because I got the support from at least one member in their family too,” Chandy had said.
Similarly, each person here has something to share about Chandy. Seventy-nine-year-old A T Cheriyan alias Kunjumon, a native of Eramalloor near Puthuppally, remembered Chandy using his taxi car for nearly a decade after he became an MLA.
“His quality of remembering people and offering support to them is unique. Though I stopped taxi service when I got a job in KSRTC in 1979, he continued to maintain our rapport. Chandy heard about the death of my wife, when he along with the-then chief minister A K Antony, was heading to catch a flight to Delhi in 1996. Cancelling the trip, he came to my home and spent 3-4 hours with us, which I can’t forget,” Cheriyan added.
Chandy could never think of not being in the crowd. “He always gave the least preference to his own needs. He didn’t even think about food when he was with the mass. I still remember Chandy passing a day with a glass of passion fruit juice when he had to visit the High Range region in Idukki during the end of 1970s,” Cheriyan said. During the time of the Chief Minister’s Mass Contact Programme, Chandy listened to people’s grievances from early morning to midnight or the wee hours of the next day without a break.
Even Covid-induced restrictions couldn’t separate Chandy from the masses. Chandy once said he overcame the solitude of lockdown attending these calls and carrying out follow-up steps.
“My strength is the rapport with the people and experiences I gain while travelling. I was astonished in the first leg of the lockdown but soon adapted to the emerging circumstance. When the Central government decided to extend the lockdown period, I decided to tap the possibilities of social media and online platforms,” he had said.