C. Kesavan: Difference between revisions

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'''C. Kesavan''' (23 May 1891 – 7 July 1969) was a politician, social reformer, statesman and the Chief Minister of [[Travancore-Cochin]] during 1950–1952.<ref name="Ray322">{{cite book |title=Different Types of History |editor-first=Bharati |editor-last=Ray |chapter=Subjects of New Lives |first=Udaya |last=Kumar |publisher=Pearson Education India |year=2009 |isbn=9788131718186 |pages=322–323 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9x5FX2RROZgC&pg=PA322}}</ref>

Kesavan was influenced by the work of [[Padmanabhan Palpu]], the social reform campaigner who was a member of the backward Ezhava community and a founder of the [[Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP)]] association where he later rose to the general secretary post.<ref>{{cite book |title=Different Types of History |editor-first=Bharati |editor-last=Ray |chapter=Subjects of New Lives |first=Udaya |last=Kumar |publisher=Pearson Education India |year=2009 |isbn=9788131718186 |page=326 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9x5FX2RROZgC&pg=PA326}}</ref> He became an activist for the Ezhava caste, seeking an improved socio-economic position for them, and in the 1930s he suggested that they should abandon Hinduism. Thus he was an [[atheist]].<ref name="Ray322" /> C. Kesavan was influenced by the teachings of Sree Narayana Guru, Gandhiji and Karl Marx. He worked for temperance and eradication of untouchability and served as General Secretary of SNDP Yogam.

From 1933, C. Kesavan was one of the prominent leaders of '''''Abstention movement'' or ''Nivarthana Prakshobham''''' in Travancore of present-day Kerala.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ckesavan.com/Abstention_Movement_K_K_Kusuman.php|title=ABSTENTION MOVEMENT|website=ckesavan.com|access-date=2019-07-10}}</ref> Because of a speech he made at a public meeting in [[Kozhencherry]] he was arrested on 7 June 1935, tried for sedition, and sentenced to two years imprisonment. In

'''Kesavan''' took an active part in organizing Travancore State Congress and became a member of its working Committee. During the agitation for responsible government in Travancore, he was arrested several times. During Quit India Movement in 1942, Kesavan was sentenced to one year simple imprisonment and was released on 19 July 1943. After Independence, '''Kesavan''' was elected to Travancore Assembly and became a member of the first cabinet headed by Pattom Thanu Pillai, but resigned after few months. Kesavan became Chief Minister of the erstwhile Travancore-Cochin (Thiruvithamkoor-Kochi) state in 1951 and was elected to State Assembly in 1952.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.stateofkerala.in/kerala_celebrities/c-kesavan.php|title=Kerala State - Everything about Kerala|last=stateofkerala.in|website=www.stateofkerala.in|language=en|access-date=2019-07-10}}</ref> '''C. Kesavan''' was considered to be one of the '''Triumvirate of Travancore (Thiruvithaamkoor) State Congress leadership''', the other two being Pattom A. Thanu Pillai and T.M. Varghese.

Kesavan wrote an incomplete autobiography, '''''Jeevitha-Samaram,'''''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nastiknation.org/product/jeevitha-samaram-c-kesavan/|title=Jeevitha Samaram – C Kesavan – Nastik Nation}}</ref> consisting of two volumes that described his life up to the time of his political prominence. A third volume was planned to cover that later period but was unwritten at the time of his death. The work combined the story of his own life with a wider narrative concerning the plight of the Ezhava caste of which he was a member. Udaya Kumar says that his "early memories are tinged with two lines of injustice: the discrimination he suffered as an Ezhava boy on the streets and other public places, where he was forced to defer to upper-caste people, and the unjust exercise of authority by the elders and the upper sub-divisions within the Ezhava caste".<ref name="Ray322" />

The Kollam Corporation Town Hall was named the C. Kesavan Memorial Municipal Town Hall in Kesavan's memory. It is a decades-old building situated on the [[National Highway 66 (India)|National Highway]] passing through the [[Kollam Cantonment]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/C.-Kesavanrsquos-statue-unveiled-in-Kollam/article15241509.ece |title=C. Kesavan's statue unveiled in Kollam |newspaper=The Hindu |date=14 June 2008 |accessdate=4 July 2017}}</ref><ref name="Ray322"/> The building is now one of the main venues for several cultural events and meetings.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/New-rent-for-town-hall-to-be-ratified-today/article14778415.ece |title=New rent for town hall to be ratified today |newspaper=The Hindu |date=16 June 2007 |accessdate=4 July 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/a-bridge-to-bypass-choking-traffic/article5592583.ece |title=A bridge to bypass choking traffic |newspaper=The Hindu |date=19 January 2014 |accessdate=4 July 2017}}</ref> He was instrumental in the starting of Medical College at Thiruvananthapuram. His presence is recorded in the batch photo of first batch of doctors from the [[Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://localnews.manoramaonline.com/kollam/local-news/2019/07/06/kollam-c-kesavan-fifty-anniversary.html|title=നിവർത്തന പ്രക്ഷോഭ നായകന്റെ ഓർമയിൽ ജന്മനാട്|website=ManoramaOnline|language=ml|access-date=2019-07-10}}</ref> He has also worked for establishing a Govt Hospital in his home town [[Mayyanad]]. Which functioned well in its helm days and later shrunk to a health center.

C. Kesavan sworn in as Chief Minister of Travancore-Cochin on 3 March 1951. T.K. Narayana Pillai and [[A. J. John]] were the ministers. Both the ministers resigned in September 1951. New ministers sworn in were : K.M. Kora (Finance & Food), G. Chandrasekhara Pillai (PWD), L.M. Pylee (Education & Revenue), P.K. Krishnankutty Menon (Industries & Labour). After the declaration of general election of 1952, C. Kesavan ministry relinquished power on 12 March 1952. The historic Land Reforms Bill was piloted by C. Kesavan, but failed to pass through. The Trivandrum Medical College was opened by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru during C. Kesavan's tenure.

A controversial statement made by C. Kesavan before he becoming Travancore -Kochi CM is history. When the fire broke out in Sabarimala, during May 1950 in the following months C. Kesavan, in his characteristic frankness said: ''"If a temple is destroyed that much of religious fanaticism will go off."''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://english.manoramaonline.com/news/kerala/2018/10/30/sabarimala-temple-fire-1950.html|title=Mystery fire at Sabarimala in 1950|website=OnManorama|language=en|access-date=2019-07-10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ckesavan.com/The_Chief_Minister.php|title=THE CHIEF MINISTER|website=ckesavan.com|access-date=2019-07-10}}</ref>

C.Kesavan was married to Vasanthi who was the daughter of [[C. V. Kunhiraman]], the founder of [[Kerala Kaumudi]].

His son K. R. Bhadran died in an Air India Dakota plane crash near Mettupalayam in December 1950.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sites.google.com/site/purnanprabhu/planecrash|title=planecrash - purnanprabhu|website=sites.google.com|access-date=2019-07-10}}</ref> At that time Kesavan was living in Ross House at [[Thiruvananthapuram]] which was widely considered as a haunted house and bad omen among political class of Kerala.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.indiatoday.in/magazine/indiascope/story/19781215-xyz-823197-2014-03-07|title=The haunted house|last1=7 March|last2=December 15|first2=2014 ISSUE DATE|website=India Today|language=en|access-date=2019-07-10|last3=February 24|first3=1978UPDATED|last4=Ist|first4=2015 16:48}}</ref>

===Autobiography of C. Kesavan===

C. Kesavan's autobiography is ''Jeevitha Samaram'' ―''Life Struggles'' in English. He is very candid in his autobiography, in which he elaborately illustrates his struggles in personal and political life. This biography is a good reference material as to have an insight into the turmoils that are remarkable in the pre- and post-independent history of Kerala. It is ironical that the preface to his autobiography was written by none other than his rebellious son [[K. Balakrishnan]], who had vehemently opposed his father on his right-wing political stands; a son writing an introduction to his father's autobiography is an unparalleled occurrence in Malayalam literature.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nastiknation.org/product/jeevitha-samaram-c-kesavan/|title=Jeevitha Samaram – C Kesavan – Nastik Nation}}</ref>