The former state education minister played a key role in starting the Kochi Biennale.Baby started his political journey with the Kerala Students Federation, the predecessor of the present-day Students’ Federation of India
Senior CPI(M) leader Mariam Alexander Baby on Sunday was elected as the party’s general secretary at the party congress held in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, thus becoming only the second leader from the party’s Kerala unit to hold the post after stalwart E M S Namboodiripad.
One of the senior-most leaders in the central committee below the age of 75, Baby (70) will take over the reins from former general secretary Prakash Karat, who was appointed coordinator of the Polit Bureau and the Central Committee after the death of Sitaram Yechury last September. Born in Prakkulam in Kollam district, he is a self-proclaimed atheist, and the only Christian face in the Polit Bureau. He is also the Left party’s cultural ambassador, having played a key role in starting the Kochi Biennale art exhibition and the Swaralaya cultural organisation in Delhi.
Baby started his political journey with the Kerala Students Federation, the predecessor of the present-day Students’ Federation of India (SFI). He went on to become the national president of the SFI and also of the CPI(M)’s youth wing DYFI (Democratic Youth Federation of India). He was one of the student leaders who was seen to have mobilised students and youth during the Emergency and was also jailed.
At 32, Baby entered the Rajya Sabha in 1986 as one of its youngest MPs and remained in the Upper House till 1998. Baby was touted as one of the future leaders of the party and was inducted into the CPI(M) central committee in 1999. However, the churning in Kerala CPI(M) and changing equations slowed his growth in the party as Baby was pushed behind other leaders such as Pinarayi Vijayan, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, and M V Govindan came into prominence.
Baby made his successful electoral debut in 2006 from the Kundara Assembly seat and also served as the state Education Minister between 2006 and 2011 in the V S Achuthanandan Cabinet. His term as minister was turbulent, mainly due to the “reforms” that he undertook. Baby was also accused of promoting atheism in school textbooks and forced to recall controversial ones.
Baby was re-elected from Kundara in 2011 and a year later, was inducted into the CPI(M)’s Polit Bureau during the party congress in Kozhikode. However, he lost the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from the Kollam seat to Congress-backed RSP leader N K Premachandran.
Known to have a keen interest in music, cinema and literature, Baby is seen as the cultural face of the party in Kerala. “Baby is aware of the culture across the country, especially in Kerala. He understands the cultural economy and was instrumental in initiating the Kochi Biennale, which brought international recognition to the state’s culture. He is also close to many artists and cultural figures like Adoor Gopalakrishnan, Kamal Haasan, L. Subramaniam, Vivan Sundaram, and Geeta Kapur, and is always open to hearing their concerns. It is rare to find a politician with such vision,” artist Bose Krishnamachari, one of the co-founders of the Kochi Biennale, told The Indian Express.
Krishnamachari pointed to Baby’s role in promoting culture and art during a period where it was an important part of nation-building, adding that the CPI(M) leader was instrumental in giving impetus to culture through many festivals. “In fact, it starts at home for him. His son is a musician too, and he also developed a street for culture, art and literature enthusiasts. Baby initiated the ‘Manaveeyam Veedhi’ 2001, an event that is still very relevant and was instrumental in initiating the Swaralaya organisation in Delhi in 1989 as well as the Keraleeyam in Shornur,” he said.
Baby’s wife Betty Louis had been a state committee member of the SFI and had been with Asianet TV as programme coordinator as well as with the CPI(M)-backed Kairali TV as its promotion director. The couple has a son Ashok Nelson, who is a guitarist with musical band Thaikkudam Bridge.
Baby is seen to be the only CPI(M) leader from Kerala with exposure to politics in Delhi as he actively handled the party’s affairs in the national capital when Namboodiripad was the general secretary. Seen to be an articulate leader, he takes over the reins of the party at a time when it has been confined to Kerala and faces the immediate challenge of reviving it in states such as West Bengal and Tripura.
