KR Gouri, Kerala’s first Revenue Minister and veteran politician, dies at 102

NEW DELHI: KR Gouri, who was Kerala’s first Revenue Minister and a veteran politician from the southern state, died on Tuesday morning. She was 102.

'Gouri Amma', as she was popularly known in the state, passed away at a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. 

A rebel all throughout her life, the veteran politician was one of the founding members of the Communist movement in Kerala.

First Revenue Minister of Kerala, KR Gouri Amma passes away at a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. She was 102 years old. pic.twitter.com/OWCab7gPRK

— ANI (@ANI) May 11, 2021

The former minister was admitted to a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on April 22 after she developed fever and breathlessness. She was tested negative for COVID-19.

Gouri Amma had recently stepped down as the president of Janathipathya Samrakshana Samithi, an outfit she had formed in 1994 after her ouster from CPI (M).

She had been a minister in the first democratically elected Communist Government of 1957 in Kerala led by EMS Namboodiripad. 

As the revenue minister in the EMS cabinet, Gouri had been instrumental in introducing the historic Kerala Agrarian Relations Bill, which paved the way for land reforms/

The bill had a far-reaching impact on the state’s socioeconomic and political spheres.

She was the widow of Communist leader T V Thomas. She was the last surviving member of the EMS Namboodiripad ministry in 1957.