Team News Riveting
Kochi, May 18
When Kerala was in a desperate need to have K K Sailaja, Communist Party of India (Marxist) preferred to sideline her.
And call it an irony of how history repeats itself, two incidents in a span of just one week exposes CPM’s stand on gender equality. On May 11, Kerala’s powerful woman politician K R Gouriamma passed away at an age of 102. The last woman revolutionary’s death evoked her political journey that culminated with her struggle to find a space in the CPM.
Exactly a week later, the woman who could be credited without any hesitation as the best performing minister in the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government had been surprisingly shown the doors. In a shocking development, K K Shailaja, who was Health Minister in the previous term of the CPM-led LDF, has been dropped from the cabinet. She had been given the responsibility of chief whip in the party.
Shailaja Teacher, as she’s popularly known, won the recently held assembly election by a huge margin of over 61,000 votes from Mattanur. The 64-year-old leader created a niche for herself not only in the country but also across the international forums by successfully handling pandemic in Kerala. Besides COVID-19 that assumed an alarming proportion in Kerala, the minister had handled Nipah virus also successfully and bailed out the state from serious health crises.
Has Shailaja Teacher been punished for her success? Many political observers acquainted with Kerala politics felt so. Though the CPM leadership had an excuse that all the ministerial faces had been changed for the second successive term, the case of Shailaja Teacher could be exempted.
For, the CPM created history by retaining power for the second term in succession. The contribution of Shailaja Teacher could not be ignored. For, Kerala voted for CPM as it effectively handled the COVID-19 situation. Secondly, the timing of dropping her underlined the foul play.
At a time when the state had been reeling under the second wave of contagious virus and the situation becoming critical, it was high time that Kerala needed the expertise and experience of Sailaja Teacher. She had been well versed with the existing health system and infrastructure. Hence, dropping her at this crucial juncture could find no valid and convincing justification.
The CPI(M) knows the art of cornering women since 1987 – when it famously won an election on posters and slogans promising Gouriamma as the Chief Minister. But when it won by a thumping majority, she was dropped and E K Nayanar was given the command. The latest development could be linked.
Afterall, many believe Shailaja was the forerunner to the post of Chief Minister.
