In Kerala a father-son duo imitate reel life in politics

In a 2006 hit Malayalam movie titled Lion, a feudal politician-father bitterly fights his son, but in the end, the son pips his father to the post. Through this interesting politico-family feud, that pits the whole family, except the mother, against the lonely son, the film depicted paternal jealousy, corruption, coalition politics and the wily ways of feudal parties in the state. In 2012, the same story is playing out in the open - but this time, it is for real. The lead protagonists in the story are R Balakrishna Pillai, Kerala’s only minister who went to jail for corruption, and his actor-son, Ganesh Kumar. Pillai runs one of the factions of a local party called Kerala Congress and has been in politics for more than five decades. He had been an MLA and minister for several terms and also one of the founders of the ruling United Democratic Front (UDF). His son, a third term MLA, has been a supporting actor in Malayalam films and presently a minister in the present UDF government. As in the film, the father and his cronies want the son out of the party, the ministry and probably even out of politics, but the son doesn’t care. How does it all start? After all Ganeshan, as he is known otherwise, was brought into politics and the assembly by none other than the father. Why is the father so rancorous? There is a little bit of flashback here. Ganeshan’s political rise, as one sees now, is not something he or his father planned. It just happened. Everything fell in place purely out of strange circumstances. During the previous UDF regime, Pillai had to step out of the ministry because of a court case and hence he asked his son to warm his chair till he came back. Ganesh did what his father asked him to do, but at the same time, he also tried to be a good minister. As the transport minister of that intervening period, he did a decent job earning a good name for himself among the people. When his father returned, cleared by the courts, Ganesh stepped out for him. Instead of appreciating his son’s tenure as a minister, he strangely tried to pick holes in the way Ganeshan ran the ministry. People compared the phenomenon with the jealousy of a legendary carpenter against his son in Kerala’s mythology. It ain’t over yet. In the last elections, which brought the present UDF government to power, Pillai couldn’t contest because of an old corruption case that sent him to jail. Ganeshan contested and won the elections while the only other candidate of his party, who was Pillai’s proxy for the interim, lost. Naturally, the slot of a minister in the UDF cabinet went to Ganeshan, a situation Pillai wouldn’t have liked. This time, Ganeshan got the portfolios of cinema, sports and forestry, while his father served his jail term. Nothing seemed to be out of place between Ganeshan and Pillai till the latter came out of jail. While Pillai was in jail, Ganeshan tried his best to defend his father and had even used foul language against VS Achuthanandan, the opposition leader who was instrumental in sending Pillai to jail. [caption id=“attachment_190126” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“R Balakrishna Pillai, Kerala’s only minister who went to jail for corruption. Screengrab from in.com”]  [/caption] But as soon as Pillai was back, the story took a different turn. The father started insinuating against Ganeshan and finally came out in the open saying that his son was acting on his own and not in the interest of the party. He even ejected him from the post of Vice Chairman of the party. Pillai supporters made veiled and direct attacks against Ganeshan for his disloyalty to the party. A party with a single MLA and a single minister seemingly expected a lot from him. Pillai gave enough hints to Ganeshan that he doesn’t want him as the minister, but he stayed cool because he knew the Chief Minister Oomen Chandy cannot afford to antagonise him and nothing else matters now. Pillai is more or less a spent force and he has enough steam to run on his own. Despite Pillai’s obvious efforts, Chandy ruled out Ganeshan’s resignation. Chandy’s script couldn’t have been any different because he doesn’t have the luxury of a decent majority - he has been running his government on a thin majority of three MLAs and if he loses an upcoming by-election, he will be in a more difficult situation. Although Pillai has been a veteran in UDF politics and has been sufficiently demanding, this time Chandy doesn’t care because he knows who is more valuable to him. At the moment, even if Pillai expels Ganesh from the party, he will most certainly continue in the government. There are also local media reports that he may float his own party if he is expelled from his father’s party. In the climax of Lion, the father turns around, but in Pillai’s case it seems improbable. In a TV interview post his jail term, he said that his party will end with himself. Quarters close to him say that he wanted one of his daughters to inherit his political legacy and not his son, but the circumstances played the dampener. Now it appears to be too late.