KOCHI: With the chorus for naming the upcoming railway terminal at Ponnurunni marshalling yard as Kochi Central gathering strength, yet another transportation hub is likely to be caught in this wrangling - the airport.
The UDF’s 2026 election manifesto has revived an old political proposal to rename the Kochi airport at Nedumbassery after former chief minister K Karunakaran. The move leans on the widely accepted notion that the Congress stalwart is responsible for politically steering the project during its formative years.
The proposal is not new. Similar demands have surfaced repeatedly over the past decade and a half, particularly under successive Congress-led governments. But they never moved beyond the proposal stage.
As it stands, the new board has not been reconstituted after the recent election. So, it may be a while before the matter is taken up, this paper has learned. But what nudges the needle towards a positive development in this regard are two things.
Congress leader and current chief minister V D Satheesan holds the airports portfolio. He is the chairman of the CIAL board, one of its members said, implying that a name change cannot be entirely ruled out. Satheesan being the first CM from the Greater Kochi area also bodes well for the proposal.
The first prominent public call to rename the airport after Karunakaran emerged soon after his death in 2010, when Congress leader Shashi Tharoor proposed that the airport be named after “the man without whom it could never have been built.”
“To see the airport named after the late Congress stalwart K Karunakaran is very ideal. After all, who can forget his contributions to seeing the establishment rise against multiple headwinds?” politician K V Thomas told TNIE.
However, a political observer that TNIE spoke to said that the move will only open a can of worms for the Congress and will, no doubt, sap at their strength just weeks into taking office.
“In the past too, the proposal had created a political storm, with certain sections of the Right wing countering the move with a proposal of their own, i.e. to name the airport after Adi Shankara, citing his association with Kalady, a place near Nedumbassery,” he said.
Sudheeran backs proposal
Thrissur: Veteran Congress leader V M Sudheeran on Sunday urged the UDF-led state government to name Kochi airport after the late former chief minister K Karunakaran. He was speaking after offering floral tributes at the tomb of Karunakaran at Murali Mandiram as part of his 108th birth anniversary celebration organised by DCC. “Nedumbassery airport is the symbol of will power that Karunakaran had to overcome the challenges, both political and organisational,” he said.
