Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

`Senior leaders should quit electoral politics'

By N. J. Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 8. Politicians who have contested twice should quit electoral politics and give way for the younger generation, the veteran socialist, Attingal Gopala Pillai, has said.

Mr. Pillai told The Hindu here today that the national parties should arrive at a consensus against fielding certain leaders repeatedly from certain constituencies. "There are leaders who have been representing a constituency consecutively for the past 50 years. Now they are introducing their children in their place," he said.

Progeny politics is the bane of the nation, according to Mr. Pillai. What started during the days of Jawaharlal Nehru was being followed even now, Kerala being no exception, he said.

Political parties no longer attached any importance to values that were once considered sacred in politics, he said. "Ram Jethmalani, who was one of the bitter critics of the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, has now been given the party ticket to contest. There are any number of such instances to cite," he said. An ardent crusader against corruption, Mr. Pillai has the rare distinction of attempting to move a private anti-corruption Bill in the Assembly when the late C. Achutha Menon was the Chief Minister. "Achutha Menon opposed the Bill saying that it will affect the party functionaries too. If a member moves a private Bill in the Lok Sabha, no member would oppose its admission. Later, it would be adopted on the merit of the discussion that follows. This should be the practice in the State Assembly too", he pointed out.

According to Mr. Pillai, rising election expenses are at the root of all corrupt practices. The proposal that the Government should bear the election expenses of candidates during the time of Jawaharlal Nehru still remained in cold storage. There were many commission reports on which no action had been taken. Only the former Chief Election Commissioner, T. N. Seshan, had had the temerity to end booth-capturing and other corrupt practices to a considerable extent, Mr. Pillai said.

Mr. Pillai entered electoral politics in 1952, contesting from Varkala as Socialist Party candidate. He contested from Attingal in 1957, from Kazhakkoottam in 1965, from Thiruvananthapuram West in 1967 and from Thiruvananthapuram East in 1970, when he was elected. He was instrumental in setting up the Thiruvananthapuram Railway Division.

"When Madhu Dandavate was the Railway Minister, he came here to inaugurate the railway overbridge. I went to the airport with placards demanding the setting up of the Thiruvananthapuram Railway Division. This was a follow-up of the continuous correspondence I had with the Centre in this regard. Mr. Dandavate called me and assured that he would announce the decision at the public function and he kept his word," he recalls.

Mr. Pillai said many socialist leaders had been opposed to the setting up of the division. Now, many were coming forward with the claim that they had also made efforts to set up the division. "I have nothing against them," he said.

Mr. Pillai had actively participated in the agitation to establish a High Court Bench here and had been imprisoned twice. During the tenure of the Achutha Menon Government, the Assembly had unanimously passed the resolution seeking to set up the Bench, but there had been no effective follow-up, he said.

The octogenarian, who lives in the city now, has no affinity towards any political party. His friends and well-wishers who felicitated him recently are planning to bring out a souvenir as part of his 85th birthday celebrations.

It would have interesting details about the politics and social life of Kerala, of which Mr. Pillai is an integral part.

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