Oommen Chandy (31 October 1943 – 18 July 2023) was an Indian lawyer and statesman who served as the tenth chief minister of Kerala, serving from 2004 to 2006 and 2011 to 2016. He served also as the leader of the opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly from 2006 to 2011.
He represented Puthuppally constituency as a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the State Assembly from 1970 until his death in 2023, making him the longest-serving member of the Kerala Legislature Assembly. He received an award for public service from the United Nations in 2013.
In 2018, he was appointed the general secretary of the All India Congress Committee, in charge of the state of Andhra Pradesh. He was also a Congress Working Committee member at the time of his death.
Early life and education
Oommen Chandy was born on 31 October 1943 in Kumarakom, Kottayam district, as the son of Baby and K. O. Chandy, of Karottu Vallakkalil house.
He was named after his paternal grandfather, V. J. Oommen (Vallakkalil), a member of the Travancore Legislative Council. Oommen ventured into the political arena as an activist of Kerala's largest student organisation Kerala Students Union, the student wing of the Indian National Congress.
Oommen completed his pre-university course from CMS College, Kottayam and received a B.A. in economics from St. Berchmans College, Changanassery. Later, he earned a bachelor's degree in law (LL.B) from the Government Law College, Ernakulam.
Political life
<!--thumb|400px| Ommen Chandy in the Interactive Session; How Can Responsible and Collaborative Political Dialogue Become the Norm? Participants captured during the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit 2009 held in New Delhi, 8–10 November 2009.-->
Oommen started his political career through the Kerala Students Union, in which he served as president from 1967 to 1969. He was elected as the president of the State Youth Congress in 1970.
Electoral Performance
Oommen represented the Puthuppally constituency for five decades, having been elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1970, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1987, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016, and 2021. He was the minister for Labour from 11 April 1977 to 25 April 1977 in the first K. Karunakaran ministry and continued holding the same portfolio in the succeeding first A. K. Antony ministry until 27 October 1978. He was in the charge of Home Portfolio in the second K. Karunakaran ministry from 28 December 1981 to 17 March 1982. He was sworn in again as a minister in the fourth K. Karunakaran ministry on 2 July 1991. He was in charge of the Finance Portfolio and resigned from the cabinet on 22 June 1994 as a protest against Karunakaran's denial of a Rajya Sabha ticket to a factional leader.
Oommen Chandy was a minister in the following ministries:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! No. !! Head of the Ministry !! Period !! Portfolio
|-
| 1 || K. Karunakaran || 11 April 1977 – 25 April 1977 || Labour
|-
| 2 || A. K. Antony || 27 April 1977 – 27 October 1978 || Labour On 30 August 2004, Oommen was elected as the Congress Legislature Party leader at the end of a meeting by AICC observers and clearance by the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi. The Congress-led alliance was defeated but managed to retain 42 out of 140 seats in the assembly and boost its vote-share by nearly 10% after the general election rout. He resigned as chief minister on 12 May 2006 following the defeat of his party in 2006 Assembly Elections.
Second term as chief minister (2011–2016)
thumb|Oommen Chandy with [[Narendra Modi]]
UDF, led by Oommen Chandy, secured a slender margin of majority in the assembly election held on 13 April 2011 by winning 72 seats against the 68 seats of the LDF. He took the oath on 18 May 2011 with six other ministers of his cabinet. Later, thirteen other ministers were also inducted into his cabinet.
Leader of Opposition
Oommen was the leader of opposition in the twelfth Kerala Legislative Assembly. Under his leadership, UDF marked victories in Lok Sabha Election 2009, gaining 16 out of 20 parliament constituencies in Kerala. UDF also got an upper hand in local body elections.
Leader of Congress Parliamentary Party
After winning the closely contested 2011 assembly election, Congress's legislative party unanimously elected Oommen as its leader.
Awards and honours
Oommen Chandy received the 2013 United Nations Public Service Award for the Asia-Pacific region, for "Preventing and Combating Corruption in the Public Service." The award was presented on 27 June 2013, in Manama, Bahrain, by the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, Wu Hongbo. The award was based on the theme "Transformative e-Government and Innovation: Creating a Better Future for All". Oommen attended the 35th World Economic Forum held at Davos, Switzerland, in 2006. Forty-three Cochlear implant surgeries were performed under a Cochlear implant scheme for hearing impaired children. More organ implantation surgeries were done through Mruthasanjeevani project. In 2005, Information Technology was made a compulsory subject for the school-level students, making Kerala the first Indian state to do so. Victers TV, which is India's first public edutainment channel broadband network on EDUSAT for schools, was inaugurated by A. P. J. Abdul Kalam on 28 July 2005 at Thiruvananthapuram.
The Hill highway project, a massive highway project that connects the eastern hilly areas of the districts of Kerala first proposed in 1960, was approved by the First Oommen ministry in 2005. The Government of Kerala approved the project and allocated funds on 17 January 2005, Oommen inaugurated the first phase of the project between Kasaragod and Palakkad at a function held in Payyavoor.
thumbnail|[[Kochi metro was the fastest completed metro project in India on its inauguration]]
The Second Oommen ministry (2011–2016) adopted the motto Vikasanavum Karuthalum (Development and Care). and the Smart City project. A suburban rail project was initiated in 2013.
The Technopark at Thiruvananthapuram became the largest Information Technology park in India with the inauguration of its third phase in 2014. The Taurus Downtown at Technopark was commenced during the period 2011–2016. The second phase of InfoPark, Kochi was inaugurated in May 2015. Phase two of InfoPark Thrissur was completed during the same period. The Park Centre of Cybercity at Kozhikode was formally opened by IT Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty on 15 February 2014. UL Cyberpark at Kozhikode was inaugurated in January 2016.
It was also during his administration that 12 new Taluks, 28 new Municipalities, and the Kannur Municipal Corporation were formed During his tenure, 227 road bridges costing nearly Rs 1,600 crore were built across Kerala, the most ever in the state.
thumbnail|Oommen Chandy in September 2015
Oommen Chandy's administration also made the decision to build at least one government medical college in each district without one, to ensure the presence of the public medical college in all 14 districts of Kerala, which was instrumental in the public health infrastructure of the state. As a part of the project, new medical colleges were established in the state starting in 2013, after a gap of 31 years. The National University of Advanced Legal Studies at Kochi was founded in 2005 and the Indian Institute of Technology at Palakkad was established in 2015. The universities founded during 2011–2016 period include the Thunchath Ezhuthachan Malayalam University at Tirur (2012) and APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University at Thiruvananthapuram (2014). The K. R. Narayanan National Institute of Visual Science and Arts at Kottayam was inaugurated in January 2016. In 2015, the Cochin International Airport became the world's first fully solar-powered airport with the inauguration of a dedicated solar plant. The airport won the Champion of the Earth award in 2018, the highest environmental honour instituted by the United Nations. The airport was awarded The Best Airport in Asia-Pacific in 2020 (with 5–15 million passengers per annum) by the Airports Council International. The Kerala Urban Road Transport Corporation (KURTC) was formed under KSRTC in 2015 to manage affairs related to urban transportation. It was inaugurated on 12 April 2015 at Thevara. Works on the last phase of Kollam Bypass was started on 27 May 2015.
thumb|[[Cochin International Airport is the first airport in the world to be fully powered by solar energy]]
Social welfare pensions were doubled during Oommen Chandy's second ministry, increasing to Rs.600. The government distributed pensions ranging from Rs 800 – Rs 1,500. Social welfare pensions which had been distributed to 12.9 lakh people until 2011 were extended to 34.43 lakh during 2011–2016. The Kerala Public Service Commission filled vacant posts during 2011–2016, The number of political killings were relatively low (eleven) during 2011–2016. Kerala was declared as the first complete digital state of India on 27 February 2016.
thumb|[[Mediterranean Shipping Company|MSC Irina at Vizhinjam International Seaport Thiruvananthapuram]]
Twenty-six sectors were identified for showcasing in the Emerging Kerala summit of 2012 held at Kochi. The event was organised by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), to highlight investment opportunities available in Kerala and advertise to the world its state of readiness to receive investors. Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh inaugurated the three-day event. Goals for the event included bringing in 45 specific project proposals with an investment of over Rs.40,000 crore, including Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd's Kochi Refinery expansion and another joint venture project of Rs.18,000 crore, Volkswagen’s engine assembly unit (Rs.2,000 crore), a hospital and pre-cast concrete structure manufacturing unit (Rs.570 crore), and a solar energy plant (Rs.500crore). A number of projects were conceptualised and developed in the tate following the summit, the most prominent of which included the Kochi-Mangalore GAIL Pipeline, Vizhinjam International Seaport, Kochi Metro, Thiruvananthapuram Light Metro and Kozhikode Light Metro, Petroleum Chemicals & Petrochemical Investment Region, Kochi-Palakkad National Investment and Manufacturing Zone, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Kottayam, Thiruvananthapuram–Kasargode Semi High Speed Rail Corridor, Kerala Seaplane, Electronic hub at Kochi, Titanium Sponge Plant Project at Kollam, Oceanarium project at Kochi, Bio 360 Life Sciences Park at Thiruvananthapuram, a gas-based powerplant at Cheemeni, Kasaragod, and Kochi LNG Terminal.
Controversies
2013 Kerala solar panel scam
The 2013 Kerala solar panel scam was one of the main scandals raised by the LDF-led opposition. It was also one of the main election issues used by LDF during 2016 Kerala Legislative Assembly election.
However, the Crime Branch appointed by First Vijayan ministry in 2018 found that there was no evidence against Oommen in the scam. As part of the procedures, the state home secretary T. K. Jose had forwarded a report to the central government.
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, in its report on Public Sector Undertakings for the financial year ending March 2016, presented to the Kerala state assembly, identified irregularities in the agreement executed by the then state government. The CAG report contended that by granting a ten-year concession period beyond the standard thirty-year term for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects, the state government's agreement with the Adani Group for the Vizhinjam seaport project could potentially result in an additional revenue of Rs 29,217 crore for the concessionaire. This figure was calculated based on revenue projections outlined in the Feasibility Report prepared by Ernst and Young. Based on this CAG report, the first Vijayan ministry appointed a three-member judicial commission under Justice C. N. Ramachandran to investigate in May 2017. The commission report stated that there was no evidence to prove there was corruption. C. N. Ramachandran said that "Nobody came forward with any specific corruption charges against any individual and nobody ventured to give any evidence. The court said that the claim that the property vests with Kerala Water Authority was not based on any document. As the High Court rejected the case, the UDF government got a clean chit. It was accused by the LDF-led opposition in 1992. However, a 2011 VACB probe found that Oommen, finance minister during 1991–1996, had no role in the corruption. The report filed by VACB said that Oommen Chandy was not aware of the details of the decision to import palmolein through a Singapore-based firm.
Death and funeral
Death
Oommen Chandy was diagnosed with throat cancer. He commenced immunotherapy treatment at HCG Cancer Centre in Bengaluru in December 2022. Additionally, he underwent laser biopsy in Germany, a procedure that reduces tumor size but does not eliminate cancer. Despite these treatments, Chandy succumbed to the disease and died on 18 July 2023 at the age of 79 due to complications from throat cancer. He died at the Chinmaya Mission Hospital in Bengaluru.
Funeral procession
Following his death, Chandy's body was transported to Thiruvananthapuram via chartered flight for public homage, first at the Durbar Hall, Thiruvananthapuram and subsequently at the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) office. The Government of Kerala declared a public holiday on 18 July 2023 and a two-day state mourning in his honour.
A solemn funeral procession began on 19 July 2023, traversing the 150 km distance from the state capital to Chandy's hometown, Puthuppally in Kottayam district. A journey that typically takes five hours was extended to approximately 30 hours due to the immense public outpouring of grief. Thousands of people lined the route to bid their final farewells to him.
thumb|250px|Burial site of Oommen Chandy
The final rites were conducted at St. George Orthodox Church, Puthuppally, on 20 July 2023, presided over by Mar Baselios Marthoma Mathews III. As an honour for his public service, Chandy was laid to rest in a specially constructed tomb within the exclusive burial ground reserved for the Orthodox Church's clergy. Respecting his wishes, the family declined state honours, with his son expressing his father's desire for a simple funeral.
Legacy
After Oommen Chandy's death, his son, Chandy Oommen, contested and won in the by-election.
KPCC President K Sudhakaran has said that Vizhinjam port should be named after Oommen Chandy since the port became a reality only due to his efforts.
The 2026 Malayalam movie, Prathichaya, directed by B Unnikrishnan and starring Balachandra Menon and Nivin Pauly is loosely based on the life of Oommen Chandy.