‘I will raise my voice till my last breath for empowering women’: K.R. Gouri Amma, the tallest woman leader of Kerala

She was among the first to declare her support for ‘women's wall’ for gender equality and to protect the renaissance values in January 2019, following the Supreme Court verdict allowing the entry of women of all ages to Sabarimala.

In the last public appearance on the occasion of her 100th birthday in June 2019 in Alappuzha, , wearing her trademark white sari, narrated her story to a jam-packed auditorium. “I don’t know whether I will live to celebrate another birthday. But I will raise my voice till my last breath for empowering women and will remain at the forefront of the fight against atrocities being committed against them,” she told in a quavering voice. Among the many facets of her character, what made Ms. Gouri the tallest woman leader in the State and a distinct politician was her incomparable courage, sacrifice, determination, and unwavering spirit. Her traits remained her strength until the end. Born into a well-off family, she received a quality education, a rarity for girls at the time, thanks to her loving and caring father. Her education included schooling at Thirumala Devaswom School, Thuravoor, and English School, Cherthala, and higher education at Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam, St. Teresa's College, Ernakulam, and Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram. Her college days, especially her years at the Government Law College, had driven her to the Communist ideology. Later, she started practising law at a court in Cherthala and entered politics under the influence of her brother and trade union leader K. R. Sukumaran. According to her autobiography, she was made a member of the Communist Party of India by P. Krishna Pillai. Soon she fought her first elections in Travancore in 1948 and lost. The party was banned and she along with other members was incarcerated. Ms. Gouri who was initially lodged at the Cherthala police station was later shifted to Central Prison, Thiruvananthapuram.