THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It is sweetness overloaded for Pinarayi Vijayan celebrating his 76th birthday today at a time when he started his second term as the chief minister of Kerala. The birthday of the people’s hero referred to as Captain, who for the first time in the history of Kerala's assembly elections retained power a second time. His birthday falls on the same day as the 15th assembly session began today. However, there will be no birthday celebrations. Pinarayi was born on May 24 in 1945 at Pinarayi in Kannur as the youngest son of Mundayil Koran and Kalyani.

Five years back, his birthday came on the next day of the Left Front garnering a major victory. He had informed the people of Kerala then that his real date of birth is May 24. However, in his official records, it is March 21.

The journey from an ordinary working class family to the post of CPM state secretary and from there to the post of chief minister of Kerala was full of hardships.

Pinarayi Vijayan became the party secretary in 1998 following the death of the then CPM state secretary Chadayan Govindan. The care and precision of his position enabled him to remain in that post for 16 long years. He became the chief minister after the Left Front won 91 seats in the elections held in 2016. He overcame the great crisis faced by the state through his strong leadership.

As the chief minister and as the leader of the Left Front, he was able to manage the organizational and state systems. He strongly dealt the Ockhi tragedy in 2017, the great floods in 2018 and 2019, Nipah and the ongoing Covid crisis.

Despite controversies, he was able to overcome all these obstacles and led his party to victory in the local body and assembly elections and to keep Kerala number one at the national level.