Karingozhakkal Mani Mani (30 January 1933 – 9 April 2019), known as K. M. Mani, was an Indian politician and the leader of the Kerala Congress (M). He represented the constituency of Pala in the Kerala Legislative Assembly from its creation in 1965 until his death, winning thirteen consecutive elections, a record in the state. He was a minister in many governments and as Finance Minister presented thirteen budgets, more than anyone else in Kerala’s history.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Karingozhakkal Mani Mani |
| Born | 30 January 1933, Marangattupilly, Kottayam district, Kerala |
| Died | 9 April 2019 (aged 86), Kochi |
| Party | Kerala Congress (M) |
| Constituency | Pala (1965–2019) |
| Offices | Finance Minister of Kerala (several terms between 1975 and 2015); also Home, Revenue, Law and Housing portfolios |
| Education | St. Joseph’s College, Tiruchirappalli; Madras Law College |
| Spouse | Kuttiyamma |
| Children | 6, including Jose K. Mani |
Early Life
Mani was born into a Syrian Christian farming family at Marangattupilly, near Pala, in the rubber-growing hills of central Travancore. He studied at Tiruchirappalli and took a law degree in Madras in 1955. He practised at Kozhikode and then at Pala, and became secretary of the Kottayam district Congress committee in 1959.
Political Career
In 1964 a group of Congress legislators, most of them from the Christian and Nair farming communities of central Kerala, broke away to form the Kerala Congress. Mani joined them and won the new seat of Pala in 1965. He held it in every election that followed, usually with ease.
The Kerala Congress became known for splitting. Mani’s own faction, the Kerala Congress (M), took shape in 1979 and proved the most durable. It spoke for the small farmers of the midlands, growers of rubber, coconut and spices, and for the institutions of the Catholic Church, and its handful of seats often decided which of the state’s two fronts would govern. Mani served with both, though mostly with the Congress-led United Democratic Front.
He first became a minister in December 1975, with the finance portfolio, in the government of C. Achutha Menon. He was Home Minister in the late 1970s and held revenue, law, irrigation and housing at other times, but finance was his department. His budgets introduced pensions for farm labourers and other unorganised workers, and later the Karunya scheme, financed by a state lottery, which pays for the treatment of poor patients with cancer, heart and kidney disease. He set out his ideas in a tract he called the theory of the toiling class.
He came close to being Chief Minister more than once, and was spoken of as a possible candidate as late as 2014.
In late 2014 an association of bar owners alleged that he had taken money to allow the reopening of bars closed under the government’s liquor policy. He denied it. When he rose to present the budget on 13 March 2015 the opposition tried to stop him by force; members climbed on to the Speaker’s dais and threw the chair and equipment to the floor, and he read out the opening lines surrounded by a ring of his colleagues. After the High Court made adverse remarks about the investigation he resigned on 10 November 2015. The vigilance bureau later reported that it had found no evidence against him.
His party left the United Democratic Front in 2016 and returned to it in 2018.
Death and Legacy
He died in a Kochi hospital on 9 April 2019 of a lung ailment. Tens of thousands lined the road from Kochi to Pala for his funeral. His son, Jose K. Mani, succeeded to the leadership of the party after a dispute and took it into the Left Democratic Front in 2020. To his constituents he was “Mani sir”, a tireless attender of weddings and funerals; to students of politics, the model of a regional leader who turned a small community’s support into lasting influence.
Frequently Asked Questions
When and where was K. M. Mani born?
K. M. Mani was born on 30 January 1933 in Marangattupilly, Kottayam district, Kerala.
When did K. M. Mani die?
Died: 9 April 2019 (aged 86), Kochi.
Featured image: K. M. Mani in September 2015. Photo by Augustus Binu, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
