C. Kesavan

Career

As activist

Kesavan was influenced by the work of Padmanabhan Palpu, a social reform campaigner who was a member of the Ezhava community and a founder of the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP) association where he later rose to the general secretary post. In 1930s, Kesavan argued that the Ezhavas should declare that they do not belong to the Hindu religion.

From 1933, Kesavan was one of the prominent leaders of Abstention movement or Nivarthana Prakshobham in Travancore of present-day Kerala. Due to 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.

As politician

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.

The Kollam Corporation Town Hall was named the C. Kesavan Memorial Municipal Town Hall in Kesavan's memory. It is on the National Highway passing through the Kollam Cantonment. The building is now one of the main venues for several cultural events and meetings. He was instrumental in starting the Medical College at Thiruvananthapuram. He has also worked for establishing a Govt. Hospital in his home town Mayyanad which functioned well in its helm days and later shrank to a health center.

In May 1950, he made a controversial statement when a fire broke out at the Sabarimala Temple. He remarked: "If a temple is destroyed that much of superstition will be destroyed" ("ഒരു അമ്പലം നശിച്ചാല്‍ അത്രയും അന്ധവിശ്വാസം നശിക്കും").

As chief minister

Kesavan was 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. After the declaration of general election of 1952, the Kesavan ministry relinquished power on 12 March 1952. The Land Reforms Bill was piloted by Kesavan, but failed to pass. The Trivandrum Medical College was opened by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru during Kesavan's tenure.

Personal life

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. 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.

Autobiography

Kesavan wrote an incomplete autobiography titled Jeevitha Samaram (transl. Life struggles). The preface to his book was written by his son K. Balakrishnan. The first volume was published in 1953, followed by second volume in 1965. He died before writing the third volume. Udaya Kumar says that his "early memories are tinged with two hues of injustice: the discrimination he suffered as a backward 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".