The day Jacob had a blast in house

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A soft-spoken individual and a remarkable legislator - that’s how many would love to remember Minister T M Jacob. He was all that, but the Kerala Assembly will also remember him as a man who had a penchant for the stage and as the first - and hopefully the last - MLA to brandish a grenade inside the House. The grenade episode occurred on July 7, 2005, during an adjournment motion plea. Oommen Chandy was Chief Minister, Therambil Ramakrishnan the Speaker and Jacob was in the LDF. The grenade was apparently a dud, which Jacob claimed that the police had hurled at SFI and Nationalist Youth Congress (Indira) demonstrators. He told the House that the police had arrested 16 demonstrators, and then used grenades and tear gas to chase away the rest. Excerpts from the Assembly proceedings of the day: T M Jacob: “Five SFI, Youth Congress activists hurt in the grenade attack are in hospital. (I’ve) brought with me a grenade tossed by the police which didn’t explode. (Jacob holds aloft a grenade) (Uproar).  Speaker: “Don’t do this in the Assembly. There is clear ruling that such materials should not be brought inside the House. A studied parliamentarian like T M Jacob should have paid attention to that. It should be taken out.”  Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan: “This is not for throwing at anyone. It was brought to be displayed here.” (uproar).  Therambil insisted that the grenade be taken out saying he was not qualified enough to check whether it was genuinely a dud as Jacob claimed! The grenade was taken out. But Jacob was unfazed. He demanded that the Chief Minister should stop ‘Grenade Raj.’ “The Speaker’s fear is that whether it would burst here. And this was thrown against hundreds of people,” he had added. Later, the Speaker issued a ruling that such dangerous articles should not be brought inside the House.JACOB THE ACTORIt is also a little-known fact that Jacob had acted in ‘Vararuchi Irupathonnam Noottandil’ and ‘Utopia 2000,’ two plays staged in 1999 and 2000 to mark the Assembly Day celebrations. In the first, Jacob had three roles, including that of Pakkanar and a scholar. In the second, he did two, one of which was a journalist! Assembly staff who were his co-actors remember that he was quite active in the rehearsals too!