Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala had an Onam gift from the Bharatiya Janata Party government on the eve of the annual festival when former bureaucrat and MLA, Alphons Kannanthanam was inducted into the Narendra Modi cabinet in New Delhi.
The 64-year-old who had earned the title of ‘demolition man’ for his ruthless demolition of illegal buildings in Delhi when he served as land commissioner in the Delhi Development Authority, was on Sunday sworn in as a junior minister in the Modi cabinet, on the eve of Onam celebrations back in his home state.
The former Left Democratic Front-backed MLA of Kanjirapally constituency in Kottayam district had moved to the BJP camp after his five-year term as an MLA supported by the Left.
His inclusion in the cabinet is also seen as a minor snub to the BJP leadership in Kerala. None of the senior state leaders of the BJP in Kerala was considered for a cabinet position, perhaps because of the recent intra-party troubles in the state unit.
After his swearing in, Kannanthanam reacted that he was ‘pleased’ with the party’s decision and that he looked forward to doing many things.
“The Modi government has an agenda and I am happy to be a part of realising it. The agenda is to ensure food for all, education for all, toilets for all, electricity for all and so on. It is indeed a privilege to be part of the team that is realising it”, he said shortly after the swearing-in ceremony.
Kannanthanam was born into a family of nine children in Manimala in Kottayam district, a village that had no power connection during his childhood, and he was considered one of the academically poor students in his school. He squeaked through in the school final examination, but the very fact that he passed energised him as almost everyone had expected him to fail, he later recalled.
He worked hard to hone his English language and oratory skills and the efforts took him places, earning him a glittering eighth position in the Indian Administrative Service examination in 1979.
What really pitchforked him into national limelight was the initiative for total literacy in Kerala in the early 1990s. He was the collector of his home district, Kottayam, when the town achieved total literacy in 1990, making it the first such town in India.
In 2006 he took the bold decision to draw the curtains on his bureaucratic career, a decision that surprised even his own family. That decision led him to being the Kanjirapally MLA with the support of the Left parties.
He then threw another surprise by joining the BJP camp in 2011, which has now taken him to a cabinet berth in the Modi government.
