K R Gouri has witnessed the Kerala century. The veteran Communist fought an oppressive regime, served as a minister in the first cabinet of Kerala and spearheaded a host of reforms that changed the social structure of the state forever. She is the only surviving member of the historic government of 1957.

Gouri, who turns 99 on July 15, is one among the strongest women leaders of Kerala. She has served as a minister for 16 years and as a legislator for 46 years. She has contested every assembly election in Kerala except the latest one. She won 13 of the 17 assembly elections.

Gouri has steered diverse departments including revenue, excise, food, agriculture, civil supplies and industries. She has served in the left ministries of 1957, 1967, 1980 and 1987 as well as the A K Antony and Oommen Chandy governments between 2001 and 2006.

She is remembered for her unwavering stand for the masses. She managed to get the legislature pass the Kerala Agrarian Relations Bill on the eve of the government’s dismissal by the Centre in 1959. She also set in motion the Kerala Land Reforms Bill a decade later but it was passed by the Achutha Menon government.

She also brought in effective legislation to guarantee land rights to the agricultural labourers.

Extraordinary career

Born in a nondescript village near Cherthala in Alappuzha district in 1919, Gouri went to the Tirumala Devaswom School at Turavoor and the English school at Cherthala. She then pursued the intermediate at the Maharaja’s College and a bachelor’s degree at St Teresa’s College before joining the Government Law College in Thiruvananthapuram.

She was the first woman advocate from the Ezhava community when she started practice at Cherthala.

She was drawn to the communist movement in the tumultuous days of the Punnapra-Vayalar revolt against the then Travancore state dewan, C P Ramaswami Iyer. She was inducted into the Communist Party of India by P Krishna Pillai.

She unsuccessfully contested to the Thiru-Kochi legislature in 1948 but entered the House with a massive majority in 1952 and 1954.

After the formation of Kerala in 1957, he was elected to the first state legislative assembly. She was sworn in as Kerala’s first revenue minister.

Ups and downs

Gouri Amma’s personal life was entwined with her political work. She married her comrade, T V Thomas, who was also a minister in the EMS Namboodiripad government. The couple drifted apart after the split in the party in 1964.

While Thomas stayed put with the CPI, Gouri Amma joined the newly formed CPM. The couple later divorced.

Gouri later parted ways with the CPM in January 1994. Unperturbed by the exit, she formed her own party, the Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samithi (JSS) and led it into the Congress-led coalition. She was a prominent leader of the United Democratic Front until 2016.

Gouri's exit from the CPM was not surprising. The party and the front it leads projected the firebrand leader as their chief minister candidate before the 1987 assembly election. She was shocked to see the party choosing E K Nayanar as its legislative party leader after the victory.

She stormed out of a party meeting but her comrades pacified her by offering her crucial portfolios in the cabinet. She was given industries and excise departments.

Gouri's uncompromising stands made sure that she did not keep the portfolios for long. She rubbed he powerful trade union, the CITU, the wrong way when she stamped her approval to retain the toddy shops that maintained the legally stipulated distance. T K Ramakrishnan took over the excise department from Gouri.

Uncompromising stands

As industries minister, Gouri steamrolled many popular projects, even at the cost of antagonising the CITU lobby in the party further. She played a key role in ushering in many industrial projects, including the Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram.

The CPM was not amused though. The party took offense to Gouri taking part in felicitation ceremonies organised by political rivals. The woman who was selected as the best legislator faced disciplinary actions by her party.

She was even accused of leaking to media confidential matters discussed within the party. Under the UDF rule, she was selected to head a committee. The CPM wanted her to quit but she would not. She was demoted to the district committee of the party, a decision that set in motion a process that culminated in her ouster from the party.

She would be a bitter critic of the CPM for 22 years, until she was welcomed in the party headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram two years ago.

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