Unique story of Oommen Chandy

WE have heard enough stories about Oommen Chandy and the way he used his political position and governmental power to help people in need. This story is not that simple. We know a lot of political leaders in several political parties and there are many who help people at the time of their needs. 

So, why is Oommen Chandy different? We already saw that he has been different, we have never seen a funeral like that of Oommen Chandy, with hundreds of thousands of people showing up, crying, showing great emotions and telling how they received help from Chandy. It was not one, two, thousand or 10 thousand, hundreds of thousands, who said that Chandy helped when they asked for help. 

How can one person be in touch with so many people in person, follow up on their requests, do the necessary help and make them thankful? How many leaders that we know, religious, political and social, have done something like this? I do not know another person like this who could help so many people and make them happy.

We always see people meeting their democratically elected leaders and asking for assistance and help. If the help is within their governmental power, they often do it. Some leaders do help for something in return. Some leaders do not help anybody other than their family and friends. How many people will a democratic leader help during their elected office term? They help 10,100 or 1000 people. 

As we all know Oommen Chandy was very different. He helped hundreds of thousands regardless of their political belief, religious belief or financial condition. He met in person hundreds of thousands of people, chatted with them, followed up on their requests for help and in most cases rendered help either using the power of his elected office, contacting his friends in high positions and in many occasions donating his own money. 

In the human history of democracy, I have never read or heard a story like my dear friend Oommen Chandy. In history, I never heard of a king like that. We have the epic story of Emperor Maveli, another Malayalee.

Another aspect of Oommen Chandy is that nobody had any idea that he helped so many people during his 50 years as an elected official, as an MLA, Minister and Chief Minister until the people came out with great emotions, some crying, declaring how the great democratic leader helped them after they personally requested for help. 

Again it is not 100 people, 100 people or 10000 people; it is hundreds of thousands of people. How can one person do it in a democratic system? The way Oommen Chandy did it was by separating his political responsibilities as a Congress party leader and his responsibilities as a democratically elected official and leader. He was very much involved in the decision-making process of the Congress party. He was very much involved in the divisions and arguments within the party. 

But, when it comes to being a representative of the people and leader in government, he focused on the people regardless of their political affiliation, economic status, caste, creed or religious following. When he dealt with people’s issues, he has priority of people who were in need, poor and elderly. 

He used his influence and power in government to help them even if it required changing existing policies and procedures. He did it because he was a humanist and was concerned about the needs of the people and their quality of life.

What did we learn from the way Oommen Chandy functioned as a political leader and government leader? Politics and government are to be dealt with separately, one is the creative part of democracy and the other is the implementing part of democracy. This is a great lesson for Kerala as well as any other Indian leader and so also for leaders of democracies all over the world. 

As many people suggested, somebody should write a book about Oommen Chandy on his 50 years life as a democratic leader and make it a social studies class book.

I knew Oommen Chandy since I was 10 years. He was a constant visitor in my house as my brother’s classmate. Later we supported him for his first election to become an MLA against a person we all knew and I was in touch with him for the last 50 years. I miss him as a friend, as a leader and as a great humanist.
Let Oommen Chandy’s memories live forever, and urge all political and democratic leaders to follow him