K M Mani was defined by a voice that was throaty, a laughter that dissolved into a cough and his white jubba and mundu that stayed neat through the day. As he grew from Kunjumani the Congress worker to “Mani sir” the Kerala Congress stalwart, he became one with his constituency, Pala.
Mani drew his strength from his community and he cemented the association by liberally dropping keywords such as church, prayer, family and Kuttiyamma, his wife. He built an image for himself that eventually came to surpass that of his mentor P T Chacko, after whom the Kerala Congress was formed.
The photograph of Mani arriving at the assembly to present the budget marked the calendars for years.
Mani strengthened the Kerala Congress to a formidable force in Kerala politics much before regional parties emerged powerful in India. As the party underwent a series of splits and patch-ups, Mani famously said that the party grew as it split and split as it grew.
Almost every leader worth his salt created his own version of the Kerala Congress, followed by his own initial. Yet Kerala Congress (M) remained the most potent and Mani its undisputed leader.
Mani was known as a hard bargainer in the coalition politics of Kerala. Yet the bigger parties did not want to part with him. Mani had his pet peeves, including a ruse that he was denied a chance to become the chief minister in 1979, but he dealt with his rivals with a disarming smile.
Mani’s white jubba was a part of his personality. He took great care in grooming himself. “I have not seen a more hardworking person,” said Francis George, who had associated with Mani since he was a school boy. “He worked for about 18 hours a day. My father (K M George, the founding chairman of the Kerala Congress) had said that Mani was always like that. Later I had seen it myself.
“He treated anyone pleasantly. He would make anyone feel like an old acquaintance,” George said.
Mani himself had said that he quit smoking while his daughter was admitted to a hospital for delivery. “My father used to scold him for smoking,” George added. “I remember traveling with my father and Mani sir. As soon as my father dozed off, Mani sir would ask the driver to stop the car by a roadside shop. When the car stopped, my father would wake up and ask what happened. Mani sir would nudge the driver to go on,” George said.
Mani introduced several economic concepts to Kerala politics, including “additionality” and his own “theory of the toiling class”. Former bureaucrat D Babu Paul has said that Mani would always ask about new ideas when they met.
Mani had a jolly good time with Vakkachan Mattathil, who returned from the United States after studies to join the nascent Kerala Congress in 1964. “I would ask him how he kept fit despite enjoying a good meal,” Mattathil reminisced. “He would just laugh. He was not a man to waste a chance. He was a hard worker.”
Mani did not let any allegation or controversy affect him. However, he always nursed an ambition to become the chief minister or a Union minister. Yet he was not ready to compromise, as seen by the latest tiff with party colleague P J Joseph early this year.
