Ponmala

‘Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom’ – this is the first line of Cardinal Newman’s all time great poem of the same name. The poem is addressed to God, but we can also transfer it to godly men and women who lead a people when seemingly endless gloom of hopelessness envelopes them. This gloom had been thickening over India by the day during the last couple of decades, for the simple reason that no light that would dispel it appeared from the arena of politics, religion, culture or media. Even those that were flickering on the horizon were put out by the forces of darkness. Immorality, corruption, hypocrisy, divisiveness, betrayal and hatred are ruling unchallenged.
Our nation fell into the traps laid by conmen and conwomen who posed as spiritual gurus, redeemers of our culture and reclaimers of our past glory of a bygone eon. They loot the nation and blame it on those who have looted earlier, they instigate and oversee pogroms conducted at minorities and blame it on earlier communal riots, they indulge in horse-trading and blame it on those who practised it earlier, they clamp down on human rights and free media and blame it on others who had done it earlier, and they let loose investigation agencies on political opponents, allowing their own men to commit all sorts of corruption and crimes with impunity. In such a scenario, the death of a few beacons of rectitude and service in the political arena aroused nostalgia of the good old days, dispelling the gloom. Their memories are bringing in the warm air of hope and positivity to a nation that was freezing in the grip of negativity. It happened in Kerala following the death of two popular leaders belonging to the Indian National Congress.
Politician and social worker P.T Thomas was an MLA representing the urban assembly constituency of Thrikkakkara when he succumbed to cancer on 22 December 2021. Earlier he was a Member of Parliament representing the hilly district of Idukki. As a very popular leader of Syrian Catholic origin, P.T Thomas was a man of the people and also a knowledgeable man who could talk authoritatively in parliament and the state assembly on subjects that were under discussion. Above all, he was honest to the core: he stuck to what he thought was right and never abandoned his convictions for political convenience. And that cost him his popular support in the Christian dominated Idukki parliamentary constituency.
When the Gadgil Committee Report, which proposed ways and means to protect the Western Ghats from environmental degradation, was put forward, he supported its salient features. That angered the Syrian Catholic community that had migrated there decades ago, because it would restrict certain uses like mining and commercial development in the lands they owned. So much so, they conducted a mock funeral of him with the participation of Catholic priests. Consequently, he had to migrate to Thrikkakkara for political survival. But he was highly appreciated for his honesty, clean hands, service of the people and erudition. There was non-partisan mourning of him throughout Kerala after his death, showcasing people’s nostalgia for probity in the political arena. The posthumous accolade that was showered on him by all sections of society was an eye-opener for practitioners of hypocrisy in politics.
The story of Oommen Chandy, a former Chief Minister who passed away just days ago, is uniquely inspiring. The hearse bearing his mortal remains had to literally wade through crowds that thronged to have a last glimpse of a man who had touched their hearts through putting state power into selfless service. The funeral procession took over 32 hours to cover a distance of about 160 kilometres from Trivandrum to Chandy’s home town Puthuppally. He was elected MLA at the age of 27 and was continuously elected for 53 years. During the mass contact programme he conducted as chief minister to address people’s grievances, he endeared himself to every section of Kerala’s society, especially the poor who were caught in the tangle of red tape. He would do everything in his power to help anyone and everyone who approached him for help. The live broadcasts of his funeral procession was accompanied by tales of people who profited by the kindness of his heart. It would be said of this Jacobite Syrian Christian that, like Jesus, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd” ( Mathew 9:36), “Large crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the dumb, the many other sick people… and he healed them” (Mathew 15:29).
His grave has become a pilgrim centre attracting people of all faiths and non-believers as well. But even such a man had to go through humiliating accusations. An opposing political party that wanted to oust him from chief ministership and capture power hired a woman at great cost and got him implicated in sexual misconduct with her. The woman accused the septuagenarian chief minster of rape. The opposition and the media went tong and hammer at it. When the furore over it became deafening, he appointed an enquiry commission headed by a retired judge, because, as an innocent man he had little to worry about its findings. Hardly was he aware that the selected judge was a former student leader of the party that had hired the rape accuser. The judge brought out a scathing report that gave sleazy details of the rape. It has now been revealed that the judge also was bribed. Chandy was later exonerated by the courts and the CBI.
The outpouring of love that P.T Thomas and Oommen Chandy received from the people of Kerala was inspired by (1) their exemplary life of service and their integrity, and (2) people’s sympathy for the ordeal they were put through by their detractors. The one conclusion we can draw from it all is this: People are sick of dirty politics.