Карунaкaран: Үнді саяхатшысы және Кераланың бұрынғы бас министрінің өмірі мен қызметі

Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Kerala

Karunakaran was close to former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. At the peak of his career in the 1980s and 1990s, he enjoyed considerable access, confidence and control at the All India Congress Committee (AICC), such that he had an important role in helping P. V. Narasimha Rao become Prime Minister of India. He played a crucial role in nurturing and strengthening the INC into a strong political party in Kerala and enjoyed mass support of not just party workers but the entire anti communist bloc that was active in Kerala. He is also credited with bringing development to multiple sectors in Kerala by spearheading key projects, including Kochi Airport, the country’s first public private international airport, the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, and Kochi's Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium.

Karunakaran was born on 5 July 1918 in Chirakkal near Kannur to Thekkedathu Ravunni Marar an Ambalavasi, and his mother was Nair, Kannoth Kalyani Amma. He had two elder brothers, Kannoth Kunjirama Marar and Kannoth Balakrishna Marar; a younger brother, Kannoth Damodara "Appunni" Marar; and a sister, Devaki, who died when Karunakaran was five years old. His father was a record keeper in the erstwhile Malabar District. During his childhood, Karunakaran was an expert in swimming, painting, football and volleyball. Though he was named Karunakara Marar, he later dropped his caste title, and came to be known just by his given name. Karunakaran began his education at Vadakara Government Lower Primary School in 1923. Later, he studied in Andallur Government School and Raja's High School near his home in Chirakkal. After graduating high school, he went to Thrissur and enrolled at the fine arts college, where he obtained degrees in painting and mathematics. For treating an eye disorder, he went to his maternal uncle's home in Vellanikkara near Thrissur, along with his elder brother Kunjirama Marar. Later, he married his uncle's daughter Kalyanikkutty Amma in 1954 at Guruvayoor Temple, when he was 36 and she was 30. Their children are Congress politicians K. Muraleedharan and Padmaja Venugopal. On 3 June 1992, during his last term as Chief Minister, he had a near fatal car accident on his way to Thiruvananthapuram. He recovered after prolonged treatment in both India and the US. In the next year, his wife died following a heart ailment.

Karunakaran died on 23 December 2010, aged 92, at Ananthapuri Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. He had had respiratory problems, a fever and other age related diseases and had been hospitalized since 21 October 2010. His condition worsened following a stroke and he died following cardiac arrest, as declared by doctors at 5:30 PM. It was coincidental that his and P. V. Narasimha Rao's deaths were on same date, Rao having died six years earlier. Karunakaran had played a key role in backing the Rao government and later Rao had dismissed him from the chair of Chief Minister of Kerala. His funeral was attended by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the AICC chief Sonia Gandhi. He was cremated with full state honors at his residence in Punkunnam, Thrissur.

K. Karunakaran was the home minister of Kerala during the Emergency period and decimated the Naxalite–Maoist insurgency in Kerala. After the Emergency, the Rajan case rocked Kerala politics and Karunakaran was forced to step down as the case attracted national attention. Karunakaran was accused of involvement in the Palmolein Oil Import Scam, about which a case was pending before the Supreme Court at the time of his death. The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) who finally investigated the case mentioned in 2013 that no case can be made against the officials and that there was no loss to the state government, and the case was withdrawn. He was forced to resign due to allegations that his subordinate, senior Indian Police Service officer Raman Srivastava, was involved in the ISRO espionage scandal.