Learned a lot from Oommen Chandy, who was a guru to me: Rahul Gandhi

Kottayam, July 18 (IANS) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in an emotional tribute to former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, recalled his 21-year association with the late leader, and said that he learned a lot from him.

The occasion was the second death anniversary of Chandy, held in the courtyard of the famed St George Orthodox Church, Puthupally, where Chandy has been interned at a specially erected grave.

Braving the rains, the place overflowed with Chandy's supporters and admirers.

Rahul Gandhi first visited the tomb and lit a candle while paying his respects to the leader.

Later, he came to the meeting venue in a sombre mood and delivered a heartfelt tribute.

He began his speech by saying that he had been in politics since 2004 and has met different types of politicians.

“After a while, I realised it doesn’t matter how well a politician speaks and what matters is that one should have a feel of what he is speaking about the issue. Feelings are something that come out from within and with humility,” he said.

“In my 21 years of political life, one of the masters who understood people is Oommen Chandy. I literally saw him kill himself for the people of Kerala. I remember the Joda yatra and all told me Chandy cannot walk in the yatra, and I went and told him you cannot walk, and he refused, he said he will walk. I had to coax him to walk only a small distance,” said Rahul.

“Chandy was not just an individual but an expression of Kerala politics, and I aspire to develop more and more people like Chandy,” the Congress leader said.

“I must say, I learned a lot from him. He had faced the most brutal political attack on him, it was a criminal attack on him, lies, nonstop lies.” (Without naming the incident, he was referring to the Solar scam propagated by the CPI(M) in 2014).

“I have never heard him speak angrily against anyone. He was always balanced, humble and working for the people of Kerala. His hearing-impaired programme will never bring him votes, but he did it because he had feelings for the impaired hearing,” he said.

Rahul Gandhi distributed hearing aids to three kids and keys to new homes to 12 people, which was sponsored by the Oommen Chandy Foundation.

He said he opposes the RSS and CPI(M) ideology. "I oppose and I fight them in the realm of ideas through speeches. But the biggest complaint against them is that they don’t have or know the feelings of the people,” said Gandhi.

“If you are not going to connect with people, touch their hearts, hug them, then no one can be a leader. The tragedy in Indian politics is that leaders don’t feel for people,” he said.

“This is an honour for me to speak about Chandy. In India, there is a word, Guru. Guru does not mean teacher; teacher is someone who teaches you, explains to you. A guru is someone who shows people the way. He shows direction through his actions. In many ways, Chandy is my Guru and for many he showed the direction not by talking or thinking but by his deeds and through feelings,” Gandhi said.

“When his son called me, I felt it would be an honour for me to inaugurate this event. I look forward to many young people in Kerala following Chandy’s steps. I miss him as all along when I came here, he would be sitting in the seat near me,” said Rahul.

Chandy passed away on July 18, 2023, in Bengaluru while undergoing treatment for throat cancer. After his body was taken from his home in the state capital city to his home town in Puthupally, it took more than 30 hours to cover a distance of 130 kms as thousands of people waited on either side of the road to pay their last respects.

His record as a legislator from the Puthupally Assembly constituency began in 1970 and ended with his death. This record of 53 years is unlikely to be broken. The massive turnout of people and a plethora of leaders at the tribute event revealed that Chandy continues to live in the hearts of many.

--IANS

sg/dpb