Former Kerala CM Oommen Chandy dead; thousands gather to pay homage

Thousands of people paid homage to Congress stalwart and former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy who passed away in Bengaluru in the early hours of Tuesday.

The death of the leader was announced by his son, Chandy Oommen, in a Facebook post, which said, 'Appa has passed away.'

The 79-year old leader, who served as the chief minister of Kerala twice, breathed his last in a private hospital in Bengaluru at 4.25 am. His end came while undergoing treatment for cancer, party sources said.

He is survived by his wife Mariamma Oommen and three children.

Mourners assembled at his residence 'Puthuppally House' and Darbar Hall in the state secretariat to pay homage to Chandy, who represented the Puthuppally Assembly constituency for the past 53 years.

His mortal remains were kept there for the people to pay their last respects.

The scene was similar at the St George Orthodox Syrian Cathedral and the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters where too his mortal remains were kept for people to pay their last respects.

Prayers were also offered at the cathedral as a sea of people flowed in there to pay their last respects to Chandy.

At each of these locations, Congress leaders, workers and the general public were seen waiting in huge numbers to pay tribute to him.

Chandy's mortal remains were brought to Thiruvananthapuram from Bengaluru in a special aircraft Tuesday afternoon.

Police had a tough time managing the crowd even inside the Darbar Hall, where the political leadership of the state, including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his Cabinet colleagues, leaders of various political parties, and the general public, lined up to pay their last respects to the departed leader.

Earlier, Chandy's house in Thiruvananthapuram witnessed an emotional scene when veteran Congress leader and former defence minister A K Antony broke down while paying homage to his comrade in arms.

Antony, along with his wife Elizabeth, reached Chandy's residence here to bid adieu to his trusted lieutenant during the trying times of their decades-long political career.

As soon as they saw the mortal remains of his departed party colleague, Antony wept bitterly, failing to control his emotions.

As a mark of farewell to his closest friend of years, a heartbroken Antony rested his head on the edge of the dome over the refrigerator unit containing Chandy's remains.

Earlier in the day, Congress president M Mallikarjun Kharge, top party leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi along with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar, paid homage to Chandy at former Karnataka minister late T John's residence in Indiranagar.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, who was in Bengaluru to attend the meeting of opposition parties, was also among the political dignitaries who paid their last respects to Chandy, who headed Kerala twice for a total of seven years (2004-2006 and again from 2011-2016).

Thereafter, the mortal remains of Chandy were brought to Thiruvananthapuram in the afternoon, where a massive crowd of party leaders, workers, and supporters gathered at the airport to pay their last respects.

On Wednesday, his body will be taken by road to his hometown of Puthuppally in the Kottayam district of the state. The funeral would be held there on Thursday.

Social media was rife with condolences pouring in from every quarter once the news of his death came out.

President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, several Union ministers, chief ministers of various states, and leaders of political parties expressed their grief and conveyed their condolences on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

The people of Kerala, led by Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Chief Minister Vijayan, and political leaders across party affiliations in the state, also mourned his passing.

Khan expressed grief at the passing of Chandy, saying that in public life and governance, the veteran Congress leader 'left an indelible mark'.

Vijayan, who recalled becoming a legislator along with Chandy in 1970, said his demise has ended an important chapter in Kerala politics.

The Left leader, in his condolence message, said only a rare few, in the history of world politics, have been able to achieve the feat of being repeatedly elected to the legislative assembly for more than five decades without being defeated even once.

Chandy had played a decisive role in building the Congress as a mass movement in Kerala along with senior colleagues Antony and Vayalar Ravi.

Born and brought up in a traditional Christian heartland, Puthuppally, near Kottayam, Chandy gained popularity in the state after he became the state president of the KSU with the blessings of Antony and Ravi.

During a period of strong infighting in the Congress state unit, Chandy was seen as a trusted lieutenant of Antony, who was the undisputed leader of the anti-Karunakaran faction in the state.

Chandy had a critical role in unseating K Karunakaran as chief minister in 1995, which paved the way for Antony's return to the post for the second time.

In 2011, when Chandy became the chief minister, the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) had only a wafer-thin majority.

However, a sharp politician with exceptional execution skill, Chandy carried on with all the constituents of the UDF, and his government completed the tenure.

A homegrown politician, Chandy's six-decade long political career has been inextricably linked to the ups and downs of his party in Kerala's bipolar political ecosystem.

Chandy faced his severest challenge towards the end of his tenure as CM when the solar scam broke out.

The opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) made a big issue out of the scandal by launching an unsparing campaign, which paved the way for the Congress -led UDF's defeat in the 2016 Assembly polls.

He was later given a clean chit in the case by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Social media overflowed with condolence messages from people from all walks of life, including film personalities and religious leaders.

The passing of their leader for the past six decades also brought a cloud of gloom to his constituency as hundreds of people gathered at his residence.

The home of their 'Kunjukunju', as people of Puthuppally affectionately called Chandy, was particularly familiar to those around because its doors were always open, and locals recalled how they could walk in to discuss matters with him any time of the day.