The purportedly self-effacing political demeanour of M.V. Govindan was apparent at his inaugural press conference as the Kerala State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Thiruvananthapuram on August 26. An emergency State committee meeting had just elected him as the new party secretary to replace Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who was later shifted to Chennai for treatment.
Mr. Govindan, 69, rejected the suggestion that his elevation portended a shift in the CPI(M)’s politics. Instead, he extolled the virtues of collective leadership. He stressed ideological and organisational cohesion on the political battlefield, while also displaying a disdain for placing the individual above the party.
Born in a working class family in Morazha, Kannur, Mr. Govindan faced political and personal struggles in his life. That Mr. Govindan had once stopped his car to greet his mother, who was engaged in road laying work, is a party anecdote.
