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Kerala bids farewell to historic legislative chamber

The 60-year-old legislative chamber of the Kerala assembly became part of history today after the 141-members house held the farewell sitting yesterday.

Today, the members assembled at the new Central Assembly Hall, built at the Rs 680 million legislature complex inaugurated by President K R Narayanan on May 22.

Yesterday, members assembled at the legislative chamber at 8.30 am and transacted business for an hour. At 9.30 am, the house began the farewell sitting which lasted till 11.15 am with the speaker, chief minister and leaders of legislature groups making farewell speeches.

Making a special mention on the occasion, speaker M Vijayakumar said the chamber had been witness to many historic and revolutionary decisions since 1939. The first sitting in the hall was held on February 9, 1939, when the then diwan Sir C P Ramaswamy Iyer had presided over the meeting of the Travancore Sree Moolam Sabha.

It was in the same hall that the Travancore People's Council (1947), the Travancore Legislative Assembly (1948), the Travancore-Cochin Legislative Assembly (1949-1956) and the Kerala assembly (1957 onwards) were held.

Chief Minister E K Nayanar, in his special mention, said during the four decade-long history of the house, more than 750 laws were enacted in the legislative chamber.

While recalling the achievements of the old assembly building, he said the reputation of the house had been also marred by the dismissal of the 1957 communist ministry despite having an absolute majority, the extension of the term of the House thrice and the repeated exercise of casting vote by a speaker trying to save a ministry.

Nayanar exhorted the members to uphold democratic values. Quoting a poem, he said: "Man is a history-making creature, who can neither repeat his past nor nor leave it behind". He said he wanted the members to keep this spirit in mind always, while leaving the old assembly building.

Opposition leader A K Antony said the United Democratic Front government of 1978 had approved the new assembly complex project at an estimated cost of Rs 45 million. The project cost had escalated to Rs 750 million, clearly showing the inefficiency of the government machinery, he said.

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