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Kalathilparambil Raman Gouri or KR Gouri, better known as Gouriyamma, who died today at 102 was perhaps the most influential woman in Kerala’s post-formation history. In the world of politics, rarely open to women, she shattered ceilings and left an indelible legacy. A thread
As Kerala’s first revenue minister, she led the most radical, bloodless revolution ever made in the state— the Kerala Agrarian Relations Bill or KARB that later became the landmark Kerala Land Reforms (Amendment) Act in 1969. It is perhaps the bedrock of the vaunted Kerala model.
Land reforms in Kerala were a watershed moment in India— ending brutal landlordism& drastically redistributing wealth. Gouriyamma displayed excellent skills in communicating such a tough law. She worded its essence: "Krishibhoomi Krishikaarku (farmland belongs to the farmers)"
Reforms did four things— conferred poor farmers rights to occupy their tenanted land, imposed a cap on pvt property, attached surplus lands, redistributed it to the poor. About 3.5 cr farmers benefitted, one lakh acres of land redistributed. Gouriyamma’s own family gave 132 acres
There were drawbacks. Gouriyamma herself cried about it from the rooftops. Kerala plunged into presidential rule before the reforms passed. A decade after, a diluted Act was passed. Plantation was kept out of the ceiling. Gouriyamma was one of the few who complained against it.
She enjoyed a highly successful political career, probably the only woman to do so. First lawyer from the oppressed Ezhava caste. First woman as a minister in 57. Contested all elections till 2016 since the first Kerala election. A minister in all govts btw 1967-87, and in 2001.
When computers were unfamiliar, if not resisted, she as Industries Min moved the files decisively to build India’s first IT hub—Technopark in Tvm. It was made after EK Nayanar, on a visit to Apple’s Silicon Valley factory, got fascinated by a Mexican woman earning $12/hr.
At her prime, calling her powerful would be an understatement. One story goes that IAS babus rushed to pick up her fallen hairpin in a meeting and a commotion broke out. She was feisty. Perhaps bcoz she had to force open doors before finding a place in the man’s world.
Her life is also an exceptional love story and a lesson in how communist ideology shadowed individual lives deeply in Kerala. To the heartbreak of many who had a crush on her, she married TV Thomas, a communist hero and a colleague in the first cabinet. But it didn't last long.
In 1964, the party split it into CPI and CPM, as did her family. Thomas sided with the CPI. Gouriyamma preferred the CPM. Ideology remained an iron curtain that kept them apart. She rose to become a top politician. He failed in elections. And soon, he was taken by cancer.
In his final days, Thomas was in a Bombay hospital for treatment. Gouriyamma requested permission from the CPM to meet him. They denied. Later, she was allowed two weeks.
She recounted this episode in her life in a recent media interview: “TV burst into tears. But I didn't. After this, I saw him again when his body was brought to Thiruvananthapuram. The then collector Omanakunjamma cried. Even then I didn't cry. But there was a pain deep inside.”
When I visited her house in Aroor in 2016, she had decked up her walls with posters and pictures of Thomas. Call it a cruel irony. But in three decades, she became too strong a woman even for the CPM. The communist party expelled her for vague reasons.
In public, they cited disciplinary reasons. Privately, it was said to be a result of her feud with the leadership, esp VS& EMS. She was unhappy for not making her CM after the 1987 election (instead of EK Nayanar, who was nowhere in the contest). She couldn't care less.
She showed her rebel spirit, made her own party and moved to the other side. Here, VS& Gouriyamma make for a parallel study. Both were rebels, but Gouriyamma didn't quite become a soldier in shining armor she wanted to be once she left. Whereas VS chose to stay on and be relevant
I shall end this thread with a personal story: In 2016, I landed in front of her house, ambitious to do a longish profile. I knew she was hooked into soapy television serials in Malayalam. The idea was to watch one along with her and write about the exp.
But she was pissed off with everyone on that particular morning, bcoz her party's seat negotiations were not going well. She threw me out of the house.
"You think I'm free? I'm the leader of a party. It's election season. I'm busy. Get out." She was 96.
"You think I'm free? I'm the leader of a party. It's election season. I'm busy. Get out." She was 96.
I waited for one more day. But, she fell ill and was hospitalized. I returned. And wrote to my editor: I used to think that meeting a politician in Kerala is so easy if you have the right contacts... But Gouriyamma listens to none other than herself. She makes her own decisions.
"No amount of calumny and threats can make an ‘anti-Communist’. I have confidence that I will continue to get the opportunity to work for those oppressed for whom I have worked all along."
From TNIE archives. @pendown @litemeter @anilsanilan
From TNIE archives. @pendown @litemeter @anilsanilan
