K. R. Gouri Amma

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K. R. Gouri Amma
Gouri Amma
K. R. Gouri Amma
Member of Travancore-Cochin Legislative Assembly
In office
1951–1954
ConstituencyCherthala
Member of Travancore-Cochin Legislative Assembly
In office
1954–1957
RajpramukhChithira Thirunal Balarama Varma
ConstituencyCherthala
1st Revenue Minister of Kerala
In office
5 April 1957 – 31 July 1959
GovernorBurgula Ramakrishna Rao
Preceded byNone
Succeeded byK. Chandrasekharan
ConstituencyCherthala
Minister for Revenue, Sales Tax, Civil Supplies, Dewaswom, Social Welfare and Law
In office
6 March 1967 – 1 November 1969
GovernorV. Viswanathan
Preceded byK. Chandrasekharan
Succeeded byK. T. Jacob
ConstituencyCherthala
Minister for Agriculture, Social Welfare, Industries, Vigilance and Administration of Justice
In office
25 January 1980 – 20 October 1981
GovernorJothi Venkatachalam
ConstituencyAroor
Minister for Industries and Social Welfare, Vigilance and Administration of Justice
In office
26 March 1987 – 17 June 1991
GovernorP. Ramachandran
Preceded byP. K. Kunhalikutty
Succeeded byE. Ahamed
ConstituencyAroor
Minister of Agriculture, Soil Conservation, Soil Survey, Warehousing Corporation, Diary Development, Milk Co-operatives, Agricultural University, Animal Husbandry and Coir
In office
17 May 2001 – 29 August 2004
GovernorSukhdev Singh Kang
Preceded byV. K. Rajan and Krishnan Kaniyamparambil
ConstituencyAroor
Minister of Agriculture, Soil Conservation, Soil Survey, Warehousing Corporation, Diary Development, Milk Co-operatives, Agricultural University, Animal Husbandry and Coir
In office
31 August 2004 – 12 May 2006
GovernorR. L. Bhatia
Succeeded byMullakkara Retnakaran
ConstituencyAroor
Personal details
Born
Kalathilparambil Raman Gouri

(1919-07-14)14 July 1919[1][2]
Pattanakkad, Travancore State, British India
(now Kerala, India)
Died11 May 2021(2021-05-11) (aged 101)[3]
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Cause of deathSepticemia
Resting placePunnapra Vayalar Martyrdom Memorial
Political partyCommunist Party of India,
Communist Party of India (Marxist) and
Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy
Spouse(s)T. V. Thomas (1957–1977)
Parent(s)Aarumuriparambil Parvathiamma (mother) Kalathilparambil Ayyappan Raman (father)
RelativesSusheela Gopalan
Alma materHigher Secondary School Kandamangalam, Tirumala Devaswom Higher Secondary School, Maharaja's College, Ernakulam, St. Teresa's College Ernakulam and Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram
AwardsKerala Sahitya Akademi Award
Signature
WebsiteGovernment of Kerala
Nickname(s)Kunjamma

K. R. Gouri Amma (14 July 1919 – 11 May 2021[4]), born K. R. Gouri, was an Indian politician from Alappuzha in central Kerala.[5] She was one of the most prominent leaders of the Left movement in India.[5]

Born in an Ezhava family near Cherthala, K. R. Gouri studied at Maharaja's College and Trivandrum Law College.[5] Refusing an offer from the Government of Travancore to be appointed as a magistrate, she joined the Communist Party in 1948.[5] She was elected to Travancore-Cochin Legislative Assembly in 1952 and 1954.[5][6] She served as the Land Revenue or Social Welfare minister in the 1957, 1967 (Namboodiripad), 1980 and 1987 (Nayanar) Kerala ministries.[5] As the Revenue Minister in the first ministry, she famously piloted the Kerala Agrarian Relations Bill.[5][7]

K. R. Gouri was expelled from Communist Party of India Marxist in 1994, and subsequently became a minister in the Congress-led Kerala Cabinet from 2001 to 2006.[7][5]

Early life[edit]

Early career[edit]

K. R. Gouri was born on 14 July 1919 to K. A. Raman and Parvathi Amma in a wealthy Ezhava family in Alappuzha, Travancore.[1][5] She studied at Maharaja's College, Ernakulam and St. Teresa’s College, Ernakulam (Graduation in History). She obtained her law degree (B. L.) from Trivandrum Law College and enrolled as an advocate at Cherthala.[5]

She was the first woman from the Ezhava community to get a degree in law.[5] She famously refused an offer from C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar, the Diwan of Travancore, to be appointed as a government magistrate.[5]

She married her colleague T. V. Thomas in 1957.[1]

In Travancore politics[edit]

K. R. Gouri started her public life as a student activist urging the Travancore government to join the state of India and of the Quit India Movement.[7] She joined the Communist Party in 1948 (by this period, she had started working for the Party among coir workers in Alappuzha).[5] She unsuccessfully ran for office from Cherthala Constituency in the 1948 Travancore elections.[5] Subsequently she underwent imprisonment and endured severe police torture.[5][8]

She was elected to the Travancore-Cochin Legislative Assembly in 1952 and 1954 (she was in prison throughout the election period).[1][5]

In Kerala politics[edit]

In the first Kerala ministry[edit]

The state of Kerala was constituted on 1 November 1956 (States Reorganization Act). The Communist Party of India defeated the Congress in first elections held to the Kerala Legislative Assembly, and formed government (1957, headed by E. M. S. Namboodiripad). K. R. Gouri, member from Sherthalai, was chosen as the Revenue Minister.[1]

Council of Ministers (1957–'59)

Land Reforms Bill in Kerala[edit]

The Land Reforms in Kerala is one the greatest achievements of Gowri Amma. It was she who piloted the revolutionary Land Reforms Bill for the Communist Government. One of the first things the Communist Ministry did was to promulgate an Ordinance banning evictions of all tenants and kudikidappukar throughout the state. In due course a comprehensive Agrarian Relations Bill was drafted and piloted by the Minister for Revenue, K.R. Gouri Amma. The Bill sought to confer ownership rights on land to tenants including sharecroppers and fix a ceiling for the land a land owner could possess. It also had provisions for distributing the surplus land taken from the landlords to the landless poor. The vested interests rallied around them all kinds of reactionary, religious and communal forces and launched the so-called 'Liberation Struggle'. The Government was successful in passing the Agrarian Relations Bill in the Assembly before it was dissolved, but the Bill failed to get the President's assent.

The 1960–'64 United Front Government (anti-Communist) prepared a new Land Reform Bill giving several concessions to the landlords and taking away many of the benefits conferred upon the peasants in the Agrarian Relations Bill. The people of Kerala and K.R. Gowri Amma had to wait for another ten years before a Land Reform Bill abolishing landlordism and giving land to the tillers was passed and fully implemented.

Split in the party[edit]

In 1964, ideological differences over a split between the Soviets and the Chinese communists and over the response to the 1962 India-China war prompted a large faction of party members to break with the Communist Party of India and form the Communist Party of India Marxist.[9] After the split of 1964, K. R. Gouri sided with the newly formed Communist Party of India Marxist.[7][5]

In the second Namboodiripad ministry[edit]

Kerala Council of Ministers (1967)

In 1967 assembly elections resulted in the formation of the Communist Party of India Marxist-led United Front government in Kerala (Namboodiripad ministry). K. R. Gouri, a member from Aroor, was chosen as Minister for Revenue, Social Welfare and Law. She served from from March 1967 to November 1969.[1]

She moved a number of progressive and radical amendments to the Land Reforms Bill passed by the previous Government. When it was implemented, landlordism was abolished in Kerala. 3.5 million tenants and about 500,000 Kudikidappukar were made owners of their land. More than one lakh acres of land was declared as surplus land and was distributed among the agro-labourers in rural areas.

First Nayanar ministry[edit]

Kerala Council of Ministers (1987)

From 25 January 1980 till 20 October 1981 K. R. Gouri served Minister for Agriculture, Social Welfare, Industries, Vigilance and Justice Administration in the first E. K. Nayanar ministry.[10][1]

Second Nayanar ministry[edit]

The Left Democratic Front projected K. R. Gauri as the Chief Minister designate in the 1987 election assembly campaign.[5] But once the Left emerged victorious, the party chose veteran leader E. K. Nayanar instead.[5]

In the Second E. K. Nayanar ministry (1987–1991), K. R. Gouri served as Minister for Industries and Social Welfare, Vigilance and Administration of Justice.[11][1]

With the Congress Party[edit]

K. R. Gouri was expelled from Communist Party of India Marxist in 1994.[7][5] She founded Janadhipathya Samrakshana Samithi (the J. S. S.) in 1994, which later became a member of the Congress-led anti-Marxist alliance United Democratic Front.[12][5]

Minister in the Congress ministries[edit]

K. R. Gouri served as the Minister of Agriculture in the third A. K. Antony ministry (May 2001 – August 2004).[1] She also a served as the Minister of Agriculture, Soil Conservation, Soil Survey, Warehousing Corporation, Diary Development, Milk Co-operatives, Agricultural University, Animal Husbandry and Coir in the first Chandy ministry (August 2004 – May 2006).[13]

Later years[edit]

K. R. Gouri died on 11 May 2021.[5][14][3] She was cremated at the Valiya Chudukad in Alappuzha.[15]

Positions held[edit]

K.R. Gouri Amma has been associated with numerous social and political movements:

  • President of Kerala Karshaka Sangam from 1960 to 1984.[16]
  • President of Kerala Mahila Sangam from 1967 to 1976.[16]
  • Secretary of Kerala Mahila Sangam from 1976 to 1987.
  • Secretariat Member of the CPI State Committee.
  • Established the Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy (JSS) in 1994.
  • General Secretary of the Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy.

Awards[edit]

Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award[edit]

She has published an autobiography titled Atmakatha,[17] which won the 2011 Kerala Sahitya Academy Award.[18]

In popular culture[edit]

  • Lal Salam is a 1990 Indian Malayalam-language political-drama film directed by Venu Nagavalli and produced under the banner K. R. G. Release. It stars Mohanlal, Murali, Geetha, and Urvashi in the lead roles. This movie was a major blockbuster in India, running in seven centres for more than 150 days. The story revolves around two phases of the lives of three comrades - before and after the imprisonment of Sakhavu Stephen Nettooran (Mohanlal - inspired from Varghese Vaidyan), Sakhavu D.K. Antony (Murali - inspired from T. V. Thomas) and Sakhavu Sethulakshmi (Geetha - inspired From Smt. K. R. Gowri Amma) - members of the Communist Party of India (CPI). In 2020, The Wire published a review of the acclaimed film noting that it had received cult status.[19]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 "K. R. Gouri Amma". Kerala Legislative Assembly. Government of Kerala.
  2. "J S S Leader K. R. Gouri Amma, 102, No More". Mathrubhumi. 11 May 2021.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Radhakrishnan, S. Anil (11 May 2021). "Veteran Communist Leader K. R. Gouri Amma No More". The Hindu.
  4. "Veteran of Many Political Atruggles, Gouri Amma Turns 101 on Tuesday". The New Indian Express. 7 July 2020.
  5. 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 5.19 5.20 5.21 Krishnakumar, R. (4 July 2021). "K. R. Gouri Amma: Death of a Red Star". Frontline. The Hindu.
  6. Premkumar, Siddharth (9 July 2020). "Gowri Amma: The Best C M Kerala Never Had". Outlook Magazine.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Krishnakumar, R. (2008). "The Pioneers: K.R. Gouri Amma". Frontline Magazine.
  8. "K. R. Gouri Amma". Kerala Legislative Assembly. Government of Kerala.
  9. Routray, Bibhu Prasad. "Communist Party of India". Encyclopædia Britannica.
  10. "E. K. Nayanar Ministry". Kerala Legislative Assembly. Government of Kerala.
  11. Kurian, Vinson (11 May 2021). "Gouri Amma: An Icon and Inspiration for Women in Kerala". The Hindu Businessline.
  12. "86-year-old Kerala Minister Ready for Battle". The Times of India. 24 March 2006.
  13. "K. R. Gowri Amma". Mahilalu.
  14. "Thottaduthethi Vazhuthiya Mukhyamanthripadam; Thallipparanju, Purathakki Party". Malayala Manorama. 11 May 2021.
  15. Joseph, Neethu (11 May 2021). "K R Gouri Amma Gets the Most Revered Adieu for a Communist". The News Minute.
  16. 16.0 16.1 Balan, Saritha S. (21 June 2019). "The Story of Gouri Amma: One of Kerala's Tallest Woman Politicians turns 100". The News Minute.
  17. "Pusthakaparichayam: K. R. Gouri Amma - Athmakatha". Mathrubhumi. 4 December 2019.
  18. "Kerala Sahitya Akademi Awards Announced". The New Indian Express. 2 August 2012.
  19. Kochukudy, Anand (23 December 2020). "Rewinding to the Times When Malayalam Cult Film 'Lal Salam' Swayed the Masses". The Wire.

External links[edit]