For Mariamma Oommen Chandy, the one quality she likes and hates in her husband is his naivete. “He cannot say ‘no’ to anything. He exhibits enormous patience and humility,” she had written in a piece three years ago. Being married to the former chief minister of Kerala and veteran Congress leader, Mariamma says these are the traits that kept their marriage going for over four decades.
Oommen Chandy, former Kerala Chief Minister and veteran Congress leader, died in Bengaluru early Tuesday morning, his family said. He was 79.
Recalling the days right after their marriage was fixed, Mariamma Oommen Chandy says her communication with her busy politician fiancé was limited to “two-line replies to my long letters and two phone calls a week”.
This was 1977, shortly before the assembly election.
“I got a letter from Oommen Chandy, the groom-to-be, after the wedding was fixed. The first ‘love letter’. I was, naturally, very anxious to read it. The two lines caught me by surprise. It read though: ‘It is election time, keep me in your prayers.’,” Mariamma had written in Malayala Manorama in 2020, recalling getting the first letter from Chandy.
“My cousin also instilled some fear in me and said: ‘Pray well.’ I prayed hard; the blame should not come on the new bride if he fails.”
Chandy was standing in his second assembly election from the Puthuppally constituency in Kottayam district. He won that election. Mariamma says that the joy she felt that moment was special and unsurpassed.
Over the decades, Chandy served as the Puthuppally MLA for more than half a century, setting the record for the longest tenure.
“He is never arrogant, never tries to control one, and seldom gets angry. There is complete freedom. He is not picky about food. If there is a rotting fruit on the table among many, Kunju (that’s what she calls him) would pick that to eat. That is him,” Mariamma writes.
Oommen Chandy and Mariamma have three children: Achu Oommen, Maria Oommen, Chandy Oommen.
Chandy was the chief minister of Kerala twice, for a total of seven years (2004 to 2006 and again from 2011 to 2016).
He had also served as Minister of Labour, Home, and Finance in various governments headed by K Karunakaran and AK Antony. He also served as the Leader of Opposition in the Kerala assembly.
(With inputs from PTI)
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