Click to play videoThiruvanthapuram / Cochin: When President APJ Abdul Kalam appointed K G Balakrishnan as the new Chief Justice of the country, it was time for Kottayam a small town in Kerala to get back in the headlines.
The former president K R Narayanan and booker prizewinner Arundhati Roy also hail from the same town.
But it’s been a long and hard journey for Balakrishnan to reach the top from his humble beginnings.
“His father was a clerk and his salary was hardly enough to run a family of eight. But we made a promise that all of them will get the best education come what may,” Balakrishnan’s mother, Saratha says.
And Balakrishnan's parents kept that promise. After becoming a science graduate, he completed his law degree from Maharaja Law College in Ernakulam. He later joined the Kerala Bar Council in 1968 and became a lawyer in 1970.
But Balakrishnan isn't the only one in the family who has made it big. His brother, K G Vijayan, is a deputy collector.
“I feel so proud that my brother has been appointed the Chief Justice. More than that, this is the realization of Dalit leaders like Ambedkar and Ayyankali,” says Vijayan.
With Balakrishnan being the first Dalit Chief Justice of India, pro-poor reforms may be on the cards.
He is also the man who passed the landmark ruling, asking the election commission to debar political parties that call strikes repeatedly.
(With inputs from R Reghuraj in Cochin)
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