CALLING US RIGHT-WING IS A DESPERATE POLITICAL GIMMICK

When Pinarayi Vijayan was finishing class five, his mother, Kalyani, was advised by a teacher never to stop his education.

- NIRMAL JOVIAL

At a time when many children left school to work, she followed that advice and sent him to high school. There, another teacher urged her to let him study as far as he could and stop only if he failed.

He never did. Decades later, as Vijayan seeks an unprecedented third consecutive term as Kerala’s chief minister, that early lesson in persistence offers a way of understanding his political journey. In office, as in school, he has relied on endurance—pushing through crises, absorbing setbacks and betting on continuity. The question now is whether that same instinct can carry him through his toughest electoral test yet.

Excerpts from an exclusive interview:

Which decisions or policies of your two terms do you consider the most consequential for Kerala?

Our priority has been to improve the living standards of ordinary people through comprehensive welfare measures, by strengthening public health and educational institutions, and by creating world-class infrastructure. One of the most important interventions has been the LIFE Mission project, through which five lakh homes have been built for the homeless. Another milestone has been the eradication of extreme poverty through committed, decentralised and customised plans. As many as 64,006 families have been lifted out of extreme poverty.