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| Oommen Chandy |
Kerala is going to the Assembly polls on 6 April. A lot of games have already played out and many more are going on to grab seats. At the age of 77, Oommen Chandy has turned out to be more agile a player than anyone else. He has succeeded in keeping his lifelong seat in Puthuppally still with him in spite of all devious games played by certain other Congress leaders to wrest it from him. He was elected first to Kerala Assembly from Puthuppally in 1970 and has not looked back ever since. As chief minister of Kerala from 2011 to 2016, he grappled with quite many scams and scandals. His was one of the most corrupt governments that Kerala has ever had. Kerala has had enough of him for five long decades. Can't he retire from politics now at the age of 77?
When Mr Chandy became MLA for the first time I was a little boy of 10. I grew up writing his name many time in social science answer sheets. Now I have crossed the legal age for retirement. Yet there Mr Chandy is, contesting yet another election as if Kerala cannot go on without him. Come on, give way to youngsters. Congress is dying in the callused old hands of venal veterans like you. Even otherwise, isn't it necessary to hand over the reigns to younger leaders who will definitely be more efficient than you?
P J Joseph
78-year-old P J Joseph is another guy who was my own MLA from long before I was even old enough to cast vote. He is contesting this time too. His party members have put up a poster of his on one of my palm trees just at the entrance to my house. Personally, I am of the opinion that he should opt for sannyasa ashrama. Some of his press conferences and other meetings give the impression that he is suffering from severe senility. Yet there he is clinging to the chair like a parasite.
During the last Parliament elections, the BJP decided not to give tickets to those above 75 years. Of course, it was just a ploy (what is not a ploy with that party?) to keep out veterans like Advani and Joshi. Nevertheless, the decision was good. We need young leaders with fresh ideas. Even 75 is too old.
E Sreedharan
This same BJP which chose 75 as the cut-off age has now decided to field 88-year-old E Sreedharan in Kerala. While expediency is understandable, I am left wondering why this man has chosen to sully his name at this ripe old age. He claims that he will make his constituency town, Palakkad, the best city in the state if not in the country. I don't question his ability to do that. But when his ultra-sectarian mindset juts out like monstrous gargoyles through some of his statements, I feel pity for him. I had once chosen him as the man of the year in my blog. I could never have imagined that this eminent engineer with a meticulous personality had steaks of fascism running in his veins. Could it be part of his age? Youngsters have far more sense and possibly even in a party like the BJP.
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