Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan takes oath as MLA on his 76th birthday

The 15th Legislative Assembly of Kerala assembles for the first time on Monday, 24 May 2021, which also happens to be Pinarayi Vijayan’s birthday. For Vijayan, the only memorable event on this day is perhaps taking his oath as a Member of the 15th Legislative Assembly.

Kannur: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is a leader who walked Kerala through the massive floods, and Covid-19 pandemic among other crisis in the last 5 years. The focus on people’s welfare and developmental projects translated into votes and propelled Pinaryi Vijayan led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in Kerala to create an unprecedented history by securing a consecutive second term of governance.

The 15th Legislative Assembly of Kerala assembles for the first time on Monday, 24 May 2021, which also happens to be Pinarayi Vijayan’s birthday. For Vijayan, the only memorable event on this day is perhaps taking his oath as a Member of the 15th Legislative Assembly. There would not be any celebrations or programmes on Monday as part of the CM's birthday, the Chief Minister’s Office had officially informed earlier.

It was on May 24, 2016, a day before the first Pinarayi Government assumed power in Kerala, that the CM had revealed his birth date, which was not known until then, to the people of Kerala. Vijayan was born as the 14th child of the couple Koran and Kalyani on May 24, 1945, at Parappuram village in Pinarayi, Kannur district, the land where the seeds of the Communist movement in Kerala were sown.

After his father’s death, the family struggled financially. His mother had tried to send Vijayan, who was in his early teens, for beedi making work to support the family. However, coaxed by his school teacher Govindan, his mother came around and let him continue his studies.

Vijayan rose to the 'leadership line' of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Kerala through student political activism. During the Emergency declared in India, Vijayan was imprisoned for 18-months in Kannur Central Jail. From 1998 through 2015, he served as the state secretary of the CPI(M). Presently, he is the CPI(M)’s Politburo member.

Becoming a legislator at the age of 25 from the Koothuparambu constituency, Vijayan first reached the Kerala Assembly in the 1970 elections. In the 1977 and 1991 elections, he had won from the same seat to the Assembly. In 1996, contesting from Payyannur, Vijayan won and served as the Electricity and Cooperative portfolios in the E K Nayanar Cabinet. It was when he had gained the name and popularity for being an efficient Minister and he resigned from the position and took up the role of the CPI(M)’s state secretary.

Pinarayi Vijayan contested from Dharmadom in Kannur in 2016 and became Kerala’s Chief Minister for the first time. The cabinet under his leadership faced many challenges including consecutive floods, Cyclone Ockhi, Nipah outbreak, and Covid-19 pandemic among others.

Along his journey from a strict, and adamant party leader to a people’s leader, Pinaryi Vijayan has faced many allegations and challenges. Even as the State and its people went through catastrophes and crises, due to natural calamities and disease outbreaks, Pinaryi Vijayan led Kerala with all strength and determination, instilling a sense of confidence in each Keralite to fight and survive together.

In 2021, as the LDF gained a consecutive second term to governance with the support of 99 legislators (of a total 140) in the Kerala Assembly, Kerala once again brims with hope with Pinarayi Vijayan at the helm.