Kochi: When Baby Pereppadan, a native of Puliyanam, a small town near Angamaly in central Kerala, migrated to Ireland 23 years ago, little did he know that he was going to make history. On Friday, he became the first Indian-origin person to be elected a mayor in the European country.
Pereppadan was elected the mayor of the South Dublin County Council after his party Fine Gael came to power through a post-poll coalition with two other parties after the council elections held on June 7. The results were declared on June 9. South Dublin Council has a population of around 3 lakh.
Pereppadan, who has been in to the cosmetics distribution business for a long, was elected as the representative of the Tallaght South electoral area for a second term. His son Britto Pereppadan, a doctor by profession, also tried his luck in electoral politics and emerged winner in Tallaght Central. Fine Gael, the ruling party in Ireland, has got nine members in the 40-member council, including two Pereppadans.
Baby Pereppadan was elected the mayor unopposed and power was handed over to him by his predecessor Alan Edge.
Kerala model politics
Pereppadan was not active in politics when he was in Kerala two decades ago. He migrated to Ireland on a spouse visa six months after his marriage with Jincy Pereppadan, a nurse. She is an advancd nursing practitioner at Premount Hospital now. The couple also has a daughter, Brona Pereppadan, who is a dental science student.
"After I landed in Ireland, I started working as a representative of a cosmetics company. Later, I received its distributorship which gave me the opportunity to work with over 100 Irish people. My interactions with them laid the foundation for my politics," Pereppadan told Onmanorama over phone.
He made his electoral debut in 2009 as an independent candidate but lost by just 65 votes. In 2014, he joined Fine Gael and he was made a candidate in 2019. The election marked his first win.
"In politics, I have tried to emulate the model of leaders in Kerala. If someone faces an issue, I try to interact with them directly to get it solved. Irish people were impressed with that style. My campaign theme was "not just at election time," he said. His Tallaght South has around 38,000 registered voters and only around 450 of them are Malayalis.
Pereppadan said he was attracted to Fine Gael because of the party's egalitarian approach to migrants like him. He said as mayor, his focus will be to curb a recent surge in anti-social behaviour of targetting non-Irish people and to solve the housing crisis in the country. He said the price of houses has been skyrocketing in the country and the Malayalis there have been affected badly.
Pereppadan thanked his party leadership, especially Prime Minister Simon Harris for the constant support. PM Harris had released video messages canvassing votes for the Pereppadans and also called them to congratulate after the elections.