Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 31 (IANS) In the Kerala Assembly, the Chief Minister has the power, the Leader of the Opposition has the mandate to challenge him, but the man who has emerged as the star of the show is neither of them.
It is Speaker Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, whose greatest asset appears to be his gift of the gab.
As the nine-day second session of the 16th Kerala Assembly ended on Thursday, the 77-year-old Speaker had plenty to smile about.
He managed to keep the House in order, deftly handle seasoned political heavyweights, including Leader of the Opposition and former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and guide nearly half the 140-member House members who are first-time legislators.
Radhakrishnan does it with a mix of firmness, humour and a remarkable ability to find the right words at the right moment.
Interestingly, becoming Speaker was not what the veteran party leader had originally set his eye on. He had hoped for a ministerial berth with a heavyweight portfolio.
But when that did not materialise, he was persuaded to take the Speaker’s chair. It now appears to have been a happy political turn.
Popularly known simply as Thiruvanchoor, after his home region near Kottayam, he has had a steady rise through the Congress ranks, beginning in student politics and later leading the party’s student and youth wings.
Now in his eighth term as an MLA, his only electoral setback came in his debut contest in 1987, when he lost to veteran CPI-M leader T.K. Ramakrishnan in Kottayam.
With Oommen Chandy then the undisputed political heavyweight in the district, he shifted to Adoor, representing the constituency for four consecutive terms from 1991.
When Adoor became a reserved constituency in 2011, he returned to Kottayam and has since won four successive elections there.
Radhakrishnan’s ministerial career saw him handle several departments, including Home.
It was during his tenure that the close aide of then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was arrested in the Solar scam, triggering a political storm as Chandy was away in Bahrain to receive a prestigious UN public service award.
Radhakrishnan also has a reputation for cryptic humour.
When former Union Minister and senior bureaucrat K.J. Alphons once asked him which portfolio he held after Chandy gave the Home portfolio to Ramesh Chennithala and had added several departments to keep him happy, his reply was instant: “I am the Minister of Akkiri” — a Malayalam expression for things of little value or leftovers.
His stint as Cinema Minister also gave social media plenty of ammunition when he stumbled over the names of film personalities while reading them out at public functions.
He was not amused by the trolling.
Today, from the Speaker’s chair, he has the last word, quite literally.
He can crack a joke one moment and firmly wield the rod of discipline the next.
The Assembly is traditionally a busier place under Congress-led governments, with legislators, visitors and party workers filling its corridors and coffee shops.
Radhakrishnan has so far resisted the temptation to impose an iron hand, earning goodwill across the House.
At an age when many politicians begin slowing down, he seems to have found his ideal stage.
And in this Assembly, his gift of the gab is proving to be as effective as the Speaker’s gavel.
–IANS
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