“The number of women in decision making roles needs a boost” – KK Shailaja

It was fearful. Kerala got affected by the Nipah virus in 2018. The enemy was invisible and there was no way to predict who was infected as there was no way to test for the virus. In fact, for Nipah, there is no still no vaccine. There was no other way but to contain patients who showed symptoms of the virus. We informed the CM about it and he extended his full support to fight it. I decided to stay in Kozhikode itself along with my health director to oversee the activities. Our health department’s strategy was that no one should go out of that village and this planning along with the creation of several volunteer corps played a vital role. We followed similar protocols during the Covid-19 pandemic, which struck right after the state recovered from Nipah. Both these deadly viruses came to Kerala first, and both carried an extremely high mortality rate. But we realised that quarantining people doesn’t mean abandoning them. We ensured we were there for the people and personally made efforts to appease them during testing times.

You’ve earned the moniker of the “corona virus slayer”. You fronted the fight against the outbreak of the virus and came out victorious. But what was the pandemic like for you at a personal level and how did it affect you as someone who was in an important position of accountability?

I am a human being and I was worried too. Every call frightened me but I couldn’t show my fear outside or to my team. I had to find the strength or else my own people would have lost faith in me. I found strength from my colleagues, especially my secretary Raju Sadanand, who is always very transparent with me when it comes to decision-making. My team made me strong. I learned the lesson that no one can do anything alone. Fighting a battle as serious as this requires teamwork.

The fight against Covid-19 for every state has been different but Kerala handled it well because you anticipated the intensity of the illness from the beginning. Where do you think other states went wrong?

Every state worked very hard during the pandemic but the facilities at the grassroot level may have been different for everyone. Perhaps the public health system in other states isn’t as strong as it is in Kerala. Even our private health care centres are somewhat controlled by the government. In other states, the private health care system doesn’t abide by their respective governments and therefore the fees and the facilities are not uniform. During the pandemic, we, along with the help of other political parties in the state, converted school auditoriums and classrooms into wards for Covid patients. We also took over an old hospital building, which was not in use and converted it to an active care centre to treat Covid patients. We joined our private and public health care systems to fight against the pandemic. The public system, both health and education, is very strong in Kerala which is perhaps missing in other states.

You write about your grandmother very fondly in the book. The way she unconditionally helped people seem to have influenced you. Tell us about your relationship with her.

It is a touching topic for me. Ammamma was very fond of me and everyone loved her. She was the product of the renaissance generation when good things were happening in society and the old, orthodox traditions were being done away with. Even though my grandmother believed in some traditions and superstitions, her progressive side took precedence always. She was extremely brave and I try to imbibe her bravery. Once, she nursed a man who was suffering from small pox back to health; for her to enter his house and sprinkle turmeric all over his scabs was extremely fearless and unconditional. There are so many stories; I could write a whole other book just about her.

Kerala is perhaps one of few states in the country where women have better access to education, employment and health care facilities. However, the unemployment rate among educated women is still very high. Why is this so?

With respect to the employment rate, things are changing because of the Kudumbashree unit, Kerala’s flagship woman’s empowerment programme. There are a lot of entrepreneurship support schemes under the ministry of industries. P Rajeev, who currently serves this ministry, is encouraging entrepreneurs, especially women, to come forward and seek help from the government. Many women entrepreneurs have emerged in the last few years in the state and the number if expected to grow. The number of women in decision-making roles surely needs a boost and in our party too, we are trying to bring this change. Ours is not a socialist society. Women are primarily taking care of the household, therefore the gap. We, however, try and ensure that each party branch has at least two women members, and that there should be women present in all local committees of the party.

As a female politician, what barriers did you face in your career, especially when you made the switch from teaching?

There were many hurdles but luckily, both my families were communist, hence they were all very supportive, especially my husband. However, family support doesn’t mean everything. Society didn’t approve of me going out of the house and leaving my children behind. As a mother, I too felt that I was falling short of my responsibilities at home and at work. Motherhood is very special and my sons were born into my political life. For a woman, it’s always difficult to balance her home and her career; I feel I lost their preteen years.

Arunima Mazumdar is an independent writer. She is @sermoninstone on Twitter and @sermonsinstone on Instagram.

Kerala faced two back-to-back public crises — first the Nipah Virus, and right after that Covid-19. How did you and your party deal with it?

It was fearful. Kerala got affected by the Nipah virus in 2018. The enemy was invisible and there was no way to predict who was infected as there was no way to test for the virus. In fact, for Nipah, there is no still no vaccine. There was no other way but to contain patients who showed symptoms of the virus. We informed the CM about it and he extended his full support to fight it. I decided to stay in Kozhikode itself along with my health director to oversee the activities. Our health department’s strategy was that no one should go out of that village and this planning along with the creation of several volunteer corps played a vital role. We followed similar protocols during the Covid-19 pandemic, which struck right after the state recovered from Nipah. Both these deadly viruses came to Kerala first, and both carried an extremely high mortality rate. But we realised that quarantining people doesn’t mean abandoning them. We ensured we were there for the people and personally made efforts to appease them during testing times.

You’ve earned the moniker of the “corona virus slayer”. You fronted the fight against the outbreak of the virus and came out victorious. But what was the pandemic like for you at a personal level and how did it affect you as someone who was in an important position of accountability?

I am a human being and I was worried too. Every call frightened me but I couldn’t show my fear outside or to my team. I had to find the strength or else my own people would have lost faith in me. I found strength from my colleagues, especially my secretary Raju Sadanand, who is always very transparent with me when it comes to decision-making. My team made me strong. I learned the lesson that no one can do anything alone. Fighting a battle as serious as this requires teamwork.

The fight against Covid-19 for every state has been different but Kerala handled it well because you anticipated the intensity of the illness from the beginning. Where do you think other states went wrong?

Every state worked very hard during the pandemic but the facilities at the grassroot level may have been different for everyone. Perhaps the public health system in other states isn’t as strong as it is in Kerala. Even our private health care centres are somewhat controlled by the government. In other states, the private health care system doesn’t abide by their respective governments and therefore the fees and the facilities are not uniform. During the pandemic, we, along with the help of other political parties in the state, converted school auditoriums and classrooms into wards for Covid patients. We also took over an old hospital building, which was not in use and converted it to an active care centre to treat Covid patients. We joined our private and public health care systems to fight against the pandemic. The public system, both health and education, is very strong in Kerala which is perhaps missing in other states.

You write about your grandmother very fondly in the book. The way she unconditionally helped people seem to have influenced you. Tell us about your relationship with her.

It is a touching topic for me. Ammamma was very fond of me and everyone loved her. She was the product of the renaissance generation when good things were happening in society and the old, orthodox traditions were being done away with. Even though my grandmother believed in some traditions and superstitions, her progressive side took precedence always. She was extremely brave and I try to imbibe her bravery. Once, she nursed a man who was suffering from small pox back to health; for her to enter his house and sprinkle turmeric all over his scabs was extremely fearless and unconditional. There are so many stories; I could write a whole other book just about her.

Kerala is perhaps one of few states in the country where women have better access to education, employment and health care facilities. However, the unemployment rate among educated women is still very high. Why is this so?

With respect to the employment rate, things are changing because of the Kudumbashree unit, Kerala’s flagship woman’s empowerment programme. There are a lot of entrepreneurship support schemes under the ministry of industries. P Rajeev, who currently serves this ministry, is encouraging entrepreneurs, especially women, to come forward and seek help from the government. Many women entrepreneurs have emerged in the last few years in the state and the number if expected to grow. The number of women in decision-making roles surely needs a boost and in our party too, we are trying to bring this change. Ours is not a socialist society. Women are primarily taking care of the household, therefore the gap. We, however, try and ensure that each party branch has at least two women members, and that there should be women present in all local committees of the party.

As a female politician, what barriers did you face in your career, especially when you made the switch from teaching?

There were many hurdles but luckily, both my families were communist, hence they were all very supportive, especially my husband. However, family support doesn’t mean everything. Society didn’t approve of me going out of the house and leaving my children behind. As a mother, I too felt that I was falling short of my responsibilities at home and at work. Motherhood is very special and my sons were born into my political life. For a woman, it’s always difficult to balance her home and her career; I feel I lost their preteen years.

Arunima Mazumdar is an independent writer. She is @sermoninstone on Twitter and @sermonsinstone on Instagram.