Former Kerala health minister KK Shailaja became a global icon because of her handling of the first phase of the COVID pandemic. In her memoir, My Life as a Comrade, she tells her story – from her childhood as a shy, fearful girl, her days as a school teacher where she learnt the art of managing difficult students to her entry into politics leading to a tenure as health minister where she dealt with two terrifying epidemics.

In this episode of BIC Talks she tells the story of Kerala in post-independent India – how its Communist politics shaped her family and the state, and what makes the Kerala model so remarkable.

KK Shailaja is in conversation with Journalist Indulekha and writer and editor Manju Sara Rajan.

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