the most important indian election this year is going to be in kerala (well west bengal might also be more important). the CPI-M /indian left last bastion vs one of the few states where the INC has a chance of doing well in. the BJp is resurging and the CPi-M has won two historic consuective terms. so this is going to be a big one.
Now who is the CM of one of indias most relgiously diverse states ? Pinarayi Vijayan and this article is a must read for anyone who wants to learn more about him.
Posted by ewatta200
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**Thiruvananthapuram:** In 2016, soon after assuming office as Kerala’s chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan sat down for an interview with actor-filmmaker Sreenivasan.
“I don’t know much about party affairs, but I am interested in talking about your personal life,” Sreenivasan said at the beginning of the conversation, recalling a 2002 interview of Vijayan to a Malayalam daily, in which the CPI(M) leader had declined to answer a personal question. “It’s not a complete secret,” Vijayan responded, smiling.
[](https://vdo.ai/contact?utm_medium=video&utm_term=theprint.in&utm_source=vdoai_logo)
Usually seen as serious and reserved, Vijayan appeared softer and more unguarded chatting with Sreenivasan, going on to speak about aspects of his personal life—something he had previously been reluctant to discuss.
Since then, Vijayan has appeared in three such interviews with Malayalam celebrities, the latest being with superstar Mohanlal just last month.
His critics call him ‘mundu Modi’ (a dhoti-clad Narendra Modi) for what they describe as his “authoritative” and “centralised” administrative style. But for the CPI(M) and its sympathisers, he is the “captain” who succeeded in implementing developmental projects, once thought impossible in the state.
The Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a dark, textured bandhgala | Credit: [pinarayivijayan.in](http://pinarayivijayan.in)
Now 80, the most powerful CPI(M) leader and India’s oldest chief minister is credited with the rare feat of winning two consecutive assembly elections in Kerala’s history, with a higher margin in the second term.
He is leading the party once again in another high-stakes assembly election, which the party and its supporters call a “survival” battle for the Left, after it lost power in all its other bastions like West Bengal and Tripura.
Locked in a battle with a confident Congress amid anti-incumbency, Vijayan is also facing criticism that the party under his leadership has moved away from communist ideologies on many occasions and even worked with the BJP behind closed doors for the party’s survival.
But Vijayan’s evolution from young cadre to “captain” also parallels the communist party’s own transformation in the state—from a collective leadership model, to one that manages a network of economic institutions through cooperatives and is comfortable with leader-centric politics.
The chief minister, who held the role of the party’s state secretary for the longest time in the state, is often labelled as “defiant”. But many also call him a “pragmatic” communist and “pro-development” leader, who never indulges in “gossip or loose talk” and who has never bothered about his public image.
The CM addresses the public at a gathering this year | Credit: [pinarayivijayan.in](http://pinarayivijayan.in)
Ullekh N.P., journalist and author who has written extensively on politics, including the 2018 book *Kannur: Inside India’s Bloodiest Revenge Politics*, says Vijayan is perhaps the most powerful chief minister Kerala has ever seen.
Vijayan is a leader who “controlled both the government and the party at the same time”, unlike previous communist chief ministers, he tells ThePrint. “Vijayan began as a rigid Marxist cadre but evolved into a pragmatic administrator willing to adapt ideology to governance.”
But people close to him say the criticism should be viewed through a different prism: His personal journey from an oppressed socio-economic background, and the political history of Kannur, a district often characterised by violent politics.
“You can’t understand Pinarayi using communist textbooks. He is rooted; he is from North Malabar. And you need to have all that in mind,” says a close acquaintance of Vijayan, requesting anonymity.
He said the leader is extremely compassionate and aware of the lives of people who are close to him and open in his personal space, which also led to his candid interviews with personalities like Sreenivasan and, most recently, with Mohanlal.
Political analyst Joseph C. Mathew, who has worked closely with former chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan, says Vijayan, as a communist leader, has engaged with community leaders, reducing the power of secretaries. “He meets every community leader. None of the CPI(M) leaders did that. I think this is a new era altogether.”
However, he adds, this “disintegrated the party’s centralised organisation democracy to just one person, which I think has ruined the party”.
u/ewatta200 You forgot the link in the main post.