How Rajiv Gandhi's Visit Turned Vizhinjam From A Fishing Village To Deepwater Port
A popular phrase in India, 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari', has become a transformational reality. Just days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation Jammu & Kashmir's Vande Bharat train and inaugurated the world's highest rail bridge over Chenab, today, in Kerala, 75 km from Kanyakumari, the Vizhinjam deepwater seaport received the world's biggest container vessel, MSC Irina.
Projects in India have long gestation periods. The Kashmir rail link had been envisaged by the British. The planning for it began in 1983-84 and has finally taken shape now.
Similarly, the idea for a deepwater sea port in Vizhinjam germinated in the days of the Travancore State in the British era. It was revived during a visit by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi - who incidentally had gone there to inaugurate houses for fishermen - in 1985.
Veteran Congress Chief Minister Karunakaran pushed the project in 1991. Further thrust came during the regime of Oomen Chandy of the Congress, in whose tenure the Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Ltd was started in December 2015. The completion took place under CPI(M) Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in May 2025.
A Rocky Journey
The project weathered several political storms, including stiff opposition from the Sonia-Rahul Gandhi family, who were opposed to the choice of the Adani group by the Kerala government (headed by Congress leader Oomen Chandy) for implementing the project on the DBFOT (Develop, Build, Finance, Operate, Transfer) model. Regimes changed in Thiruvananthapuram, with both CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) opting for the Adani group, though both sides at several points had a slugfest over the project as well.
Work began in 2015, and in May 2025, PM Modi inaugurated this prestigious project of the Kerala government.
This writer had accompanied Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on some of his trips across the country and was present when he visited Vizhinjam on September 6, 1985, on what was the second day of his three-day sojourn to Kerala. The visit was to study the implementation of various welfare schemes.
We reached Vizhinjam in the twilight hours. It was a sleepy fishing village that traced its history to the second century BCE, a fact well-known today thanks to the discovery of pottery finds by archaeologists. Vizhinjam apparently had been part of the Indian Ocean trade route in ancient times.
'Something Is Fishy'
The reason for Mr. Gandhi's visit was to review a housing project for fishermen. Rows of newly constructed houses were being shown to him. He noticed that the houses were unoccupied. On enquiry, it emerged that tensions within the fishermen community, which comprised people belonging to Muslim and Latin Christian communities, had spilt over from fishing rights to allotment of houses.
Mr. Gandhi was furious. ' Kuchh to gadbad hai '(something is fishy), he muttered. Chief Minister Karunakaran, who was also the minister for fisheries, gestured to an official, who said the allottees had not moved in. The Prime Minister told former Chief Minister A.K. Anthony, who was accompanying him in his capacity as party general secretary, 'Anthony, can you locate an allottee in the crowd? I want to talk to him.' The bluff had been called. The incident was televised on Doordarshan that evening.
While Mr Gandhi was infuriated, an unexpected advantage of the visit was a discussion on the history and potential of Vizhinjam. The ball was set rolling.
Why Vizhinjam Is Important
Vizhinjam, though a project of the Kerala government, is a port of national significance. It is the only transhipment terminal in the Indian subcontinent. Being the pioneer deepwater transportation hub, it contributes to revolutionising India's blue economy.
The port has a natural depth of 20 metres and is located strategically within 10 nautical miles off the international shipping lane. Before the commissioning of Vizhinjam, India had no deepwater port, and it had to depend on ports abroad, primarily Colombo (Sri Lanka), to dock Ultra-Large Container Vessels (UCLVs); cargo containers were transported to smaller vessels and shipped to Indian ports. Before Vizhinjam, India thus had to forgo an estimated revenue of about $220 million (approximately Rs 1,990 crore) annually due to this transhipment.
The natural depth of 20 metres also ensures that Vizhinjam will not have to spend on seasonal dredging. This, too, will contribute to the health of the blue economy.
A New Era In India's Blue Economy
With the docking of MSC Irina, which coincides with the first anniversary of the Modi 3.0 regime, a new era is being ushered into India's blue economy.
MSC (Mediterranean Shipping Company, a Swiss-based container shipping giant) Irina is the biggest container vessel and can carry more than 24,300 standard 20-foot shipping containers stacked up to 22 decks. It measures 399.99 meters in length and 61.3 meters in beam. With the docking of Irinam, Vizhinjam will be competing with international ports like Colombo, Salalah (Oman), Jebel Ali (Dubai-UAE), as well as Singapore.
Vizhinjam's strategic location in the international shipping route connects Europe, the Persian Gulf and the Far East. It is proximate to the East-West shipping axis, which accounts for a substantial quantum of global maritime trade.
While Adani Vizhinjam Port Private Ltd., which is tasked with running the port, has developed its infrastructure, road and rail connectivity to the place, located 20 km from Thiruvananthapuram on National Highway 66, is still under development. Nonetheless, Vizhinjam will bring substantial savings as it removes India's dependency on ports abroad.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
16 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Five Left parties appeal to PM Modi to stop ‘extra-judicial killings' in Chhattisgarh
In a joint appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, five Left parties urged him to put an immediate halt to the 'extra-judicial' killings in the region around Chhattisgarh under Operation Kagar. The General Secretaries of the five Left parties- CPI's D. Raja, CPI(M)'s M.A. Baby, CPI(ML)'s Dipankar Bhattacharya, Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader Manoj Bhattacharya and All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) leader G. Devarajan, in the letter, said there are reports that several senior Maoist leaders are currently in the custody of the security forces. 'We demand that they should all be produced in court and dealt with as per the rule of law,' they said. Also read: Seeking truth and reconciliation in Chhattisgarh Issue of militarisation The Adivasis in the region have long been complaining about the militarisation of the region. 'The Adivasi rights enshrined in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution are being systematically violated and the forests and minerals of Chhattisgarh are being subjected to indiscriminate corporate exploitation with disastrous implications for environmental stability and livelihood of the local people. We urge upon you to stop this militaristic approach that treats the Adivasis with unmitigated hostility,' the joint appeal said. The leaders underlined that the government has been refusing to hand over the bodies to the families, denying them their right to give a dignified farewell to their family members. The repeated appeal from the Maoists for dialogue has also been ignored. 'The statements made by the Union Home Minister, reiterating the deadline and the Chhattisgarh Chief Minister's assertion that there is no need for talks, reflect a mindset unwilling to resolve issues through dialogue. The government should not be intransigent and celebrate the taking of human lives against the spirit of the law of the land and principles of democratic governance,' the leaders said. The Left parties urged the government to respond to the Maoist declaration of unilateral ceasefire and initiate a dialogue to resolve all issues. 'We reiterate the appeal and urge upon you to stop the extra-judicial killings and violence with immediate effect and order an impartial judicial enquiry,' they said.
The Hindu
16 minutes ago
- The Hindu
LDF, UDF continue blame game over boy's tragic death
The tragic electrocution of 15-year-old Ananthu from an illegal electric trap set for wild boars at Vazhikkadavu dominated the Nilambur Assembly byelection campaign for the second consecutive day on Monday with the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) and the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) taking out protest marches to different centres. In a bid to gain political mileage from the tragedy, both of them blamed each other for the tragic accident. The LDF staged a protest outside the Vazhikkadavu panchayat office, while the UDF organised a march to the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) office at Vazhikkadavu, each trying to pin the responsibility on the other. The UDF pointed fingers at the KSEB, arguing that it was its responsibility to prevent power theft for illegal activities such as electric trapping of wild boars. The LDF countered that the onus lay with the local body. The blame game intensified with the UDF targeting the LDF-led State government and its agencies while the LDF targeted the UDF-ruled local body. CPI(M) Polit Bureau member A. Vijayaraghavan, inaugurating the LDF march, attributed the incident to the failure of the Vazhikkadavu panchayat administration, stating that it had not implemented the existing protocol to cull wild animals causing crop damage. Mr. Vijayaraghavan accused the panchayat of colluding with those involved in illegally hunting wild boars. He said the UDF's efforts to make political capital out of the tragedy had boomeranged. K. Radhakrishnan, MP, CPI leader Satyan Mokeri, Alice Mathew, M.M. Varghese, V.P. Sanu, E. Jayan, T.M. Siddique, Jamsheer K., and M.T. Ali spoke. Inaugurating the UDF march, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said the incident exposed the negligence of government departments. 'Ananthu's family and several other local residents had complained to the KSEB and the Forest department about the electricity theft for hunting wild animals, but no action was taken. It is a clear case of government negligence,' he said. Mr. Satheesan lashed out at the government for its inaction. 'The LDF's march to the panchayat office is a farce. The government does not provide funds for culling wild boars. Instead of blaming the panchayat, the LDF should protest outside the offices of the Forest and Electricity Ministers,' he said. UDF panchayat chairman Saidalavi Valassery presided over the function. A.K.M. Ashraf, Anvar Sadath, MLAs, Congress district president V.S. Joy and Muslim League leader K.M. Shaji spoke.
The Hindu
31 minutes ago
- The Hindu
Modi government weakened autonomy of constitutional institutions in past 11 years: Congress
The past 11 years of the Narendra Modi government has dealt a deep blow to the country's social fabric, democracy and economy, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Monday (June 9, 2025). In a post on X, Mr. Kharge alleged, 'The Modi government has wasted the last 11 years in smearing the ink of dictatorship on every page of the Constitution'. 'The BJP-RSS has weakened every constitutional institution and attacked their autonomy,' he added. The Congress chief accused the Modi government of 'stealing people's mandate, toppling governments through the back door, imposing one-party dictatorship and weakening the federal structure'. 'Efforts are constantly being made to spread an environment of hatred, threats and fear,' he added. Mr. Kharge said the exploitation of Dalits, tribals, backwards, minority and weaker sections has increased continuously, Manipur is witnessing unending violence, and the BJP-RSS has made it a habit to keep the country's GDP growth rate at 5-6% from the average of 8% growth. Growing inequality, unemployment, inflation had been the fallout of wrong policies such as demonetisation, wrong GST and unplanned lockdown that affected the unorganised sector, the Congress chief said.. He added that programmes like Make in India, Startup India, Stand up India, Digital India, Namami Gange, and 100 SMART cities had all failed. 'Railways have been ruined. Only the ribbons of the infrastructure painstakingly built by the Congress-UPA have been cut,' Mr. Kharge claimed. Senior leader Rahul Gandhi pointed out how several people lost their lives in an overcrowded local train in Mumbai when the government was busy celebrating its third term. '11 years of Modi government = no accountability, no change, only propaganda. The government has stopped talking about 2025 and is now selling dreams of 2047,' Mr. Gandhi said in a post on X. Congress communication chief Jairam Ramesh questioned why Prime Minister Narendra Modi doesn't hold press conferences. 'Celebrating 11 years but still the Prime Minister remains 'nau do gyarah' from an unscripted and pre-scheduled press conference. Bharat Mandapam is waiting for him,' Mr. Ramesh said, using a Hindi idiom. At a press conference, Rajeev Gowda, who heads the party's research wing, along with spokesperson Mahima Singh, released two booklets, countering the government claims of its achievements. 'The one thing this government has been good at is propaganda and fake news. They are number one in that. It is our job as a responsible Opposition to make sure that the people of India know the grim reality,' Mr. Gowda said.
