Nair ‘saab’, the Faridabad District Magistrate who defied Nehru’s directive in 1949 to remove Ram Lalla idol

Remembered as “Nair saab” in Ayodhya, Kerala-born Kadamkalathil Karunakaran Nair, defied the diktat of then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to remove the Ram Lalla idol, was suspended as a result, fought a legal battle against the decision, and won.

K K Nair is described by the faithful as the “man who began theRam Janmabhoomi Hindu revival movement”. Nair, a native of Kuttanad in Kerala’s Alappuzha, was appointed the district magistrate of Faizabad in June, 1949, months before the idol was placed in the masjid. UP state governemnt led by Govind Ballabh Pant and later PM Nehru intervened in the issue asking Nair to remove the idol, but the intransigent ICS officer refused to follow the directives.

The ICS officer whose favourite subject was mathematics, Nair had to go through a legal battle to be reinstated in the service after his suspension. Although he won the case, he quit the job as, by then, he had earned a degree in law.

Nair then contested as a Jana Sangh candidate from Bahraich Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh and became a member of the fourth Lok Sabha in 1967. Prior to that, Nair’s wife Shakuntala had contested as Jan Sangh candidate from Kaiserganj Lok Sabha in 1952 and won. She later became a member of the UP Assembly and a minister.

In Alappuzha, Nair’s nephew K K Padmanabha Pillai has fond memories of the family’s illustrious son. “For people of Ayodhya, he is still Nair saab.My son Sunil Pillai will attend the consecration ceremony as a special invitee,’’ said the 78-year-old Pillai, a chartered accountant.

Nair was one of the six children of Kandamkalathil Sankara Panicker, a farmer, and Parvathi Amma. Panicker was keen on educating his children – four boys and two girls. Born in 1907, Nair’s school