M. M. Mani

M. M. Mani (born 12 December 1944) is a CPI(M) leader and the current electricity minister of Kerala. He was born in Kidangoor, Travancore (present in Kottayam district) on December 12, 1944.^[1] He is the Minister for Electricity in Pinarayi Vijayan Ministry^[1] in Kerala. He is elected as MLA from Udumbanchola, Idukki. He was the former District Secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist).^[1]

He contested from Udumbanchola constituency in 1996 but failed. He became the Idukki district secretary of CPI(M) in 1985 for the first time and was elected eight times consecutively to the post. He was elected from Udumbanchola constituency to Kerala assembly in May 2016. He became a cabinet minister in government led by Pinarayi Vijayan on November 2016.^[2]

Biography

Mani was born in a poor Ezhava family in Kidangoor to Madhavan and Janaki, as the eldest of their seven children. His family migrated to Idukki from Kidangoor when he was a child. He went to St. Mary's School in Kidangoor. ^[3] He joined Communist Party of India (Marxist) at the age of 21 in 1966. His works are mainly focussed on trade union works among the plantation labourers in Idukki .

Political career

Mani served as the Idukki district party Secretary from 1985. LDF government in Kerala led by Pinarayi Vijayan inducted CPI(M) secretariat member M M Mani into the cabinet on November 22, 2016. He served as electricity minister under Pinarai Vijayan government. This was after former electricity minister E. P. Jayarajan resigned after allegations of nepotism.^[4] He landed into controversy due to his way of talking during speeches^[5]

Controversies

In May 2012, he made a statement in which he said his party in the past eliminated many of their enemies easily. He said that they killed one of them by beating, another by stabbing and the last one by shooting. He was arrested following this statement.^[6]

Mani has made several other controversial statements since he became a minister. In February 2016, he insulted police officers in Idukki and a female principal of a local college. He called the local Sub-Inspector of Police, a bastard. He also accused the principal of the college of conducting immoral activities in her office room.^[7]

On November 23, 2016 he said that former Union Minister O. Rajagopal is out of his mind due to his old age. He also said that Mr. Rajagopal was elected as an MLA because of people's foolishness. This was after Mr.Rajagopal supported demonetization, which was initiated by the prime minister, Narendra Modi.^[8]

On April 6, 2017, Mr. Mani made a statement about the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi. He said that Mr.Modi left his wife as he was suffering from some kind of "biological problem". He also said that Mr. Modi treated his mother badly, as he made her wait at the ATM for two hours to withdraw money, after there was a shortage of cash following demonetization. He made this statement while he was campaigning for LDF at Kondotty for the Malappuram by-election.^[9]

On April 7, 2017, he insulted the mother of Jishnu Pranoy, a student who allegedly committed suicide in his hostel room. His mother Mahija alleged that her son would never commit suicide and that her son was murdered. She was conducting a protest demanding the culprits' arrests at the state capital, when the police arrested her. This incident created a lot of controversy, but Mr.Mani justified the decision of the police to arrest her. Following this incident, Mahija said that she does not want the Chief Minister visiting her until all the accused are arrested. Referring to this, Mr.Mani said that it will lead to different complication if she slams the door on the face of the chief minister and tells that she do not want to meet him. He also said that Mahija is a puppet of UDF and BJP.^[10]

On April 22, 2017, he accused Sub-collector Sriram Venkataraman of having mental illness which should be treated at a mental health facility. This was after Mr.Venkataraman took down a cross which was in an encroached area. He has accused Mr. Venkataraman of having RSS ties as well.^[11][12] Later on, he made a statement about Pombilai Orumai, which was controversial. He accused them of having illicit affairs with several men while they held a protest a few years back. Following this, Pombilai Orumai has been conducting a protest. They want Mr.Mani to either apologize to them directly or resign from his position. Several CPI(M) members and opposition leaders have expressed concerns about Mani's statements as well.^[13] Mr. Mani expressed regret but has not apologized to Pombilai Orumai. Furthermore, he has accused some organizations of assisting Pombilai Orumai in starting the protest. BJP declared a hartal demanding Mani's resignation.

On April 25, 2017, chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan defended Mr.Mani saying the Mani's remarks regarding women were distorted and magnified by the media. Vijayan also said that Mr.Mani's Idukki dialect and colloquial use of Malayalam also contributed to people misinterpreting his words.^[14] Mr.Mani said that he did not use the word "woman" in any part of his 17 minute speech and that specific parts of his speech were edited by the media to mislead people.

See also

Kerala Legislative Assembly election, 2016

References