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Who is Pinarayi Vijayan?
Pinarayi Vijayan is an Indian politician and the current chief minister of Kerala. Serving since May 12, 2016, Vijayan is the 12th CM of the state. He is a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and served as the secretary of the Kerala State Committee of the CPI(M) from 1998 to 2015, which made his tenure the longest ever. He had also served in the Kerala government prior to his current stint. He was the Minister of Electric Power and Co-operatives from 1996 to 1998 in the Kerala government. In the May 2021 Kerala elections, Vijayan won as the CPI(M) candidate from Dharmadom constituency.
Born on May 24, 1945 in Pinarayi village of Malabar district in Madras Presidency, Vijayan was the youngest son of Koran and Kalyani. He had a total of 14 siblings of which only 3 survived. Soon after graduating from college, Vijayan started working as a handloom weaver for a year before joining pre–university course in the Government Brennen College, Thalassery. He earned his BA Economics degree from the same college.
Vijayan is married to Kamala Vijayan, who is a retired teacher. The couple has two children, Vivek Kiran and T Veena.
Political career
He started his political career through student politics in Government Brennen College, Thalassery. He later joined the CPI(M) in 1964. He became the district secretary of the Kerala Students Federation (KSF), which later became the Students Federation of India (SFI). Later, he also served as the secretary and the state president of KSF. He then joined the Kerala State Youth Federation, which became the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI). He was prisoned for one and half year as during that time communists were organising political activities from hide-outs. He was also arrested and tortured during the period of Emergency.
He went on to become the president of the Kerala Co-Op Bank. He was also the Kannur district secretary of the CPI(M) when M V Raghavan left the party over the 'alternative document' row. Vijayan was elected to the politburo in 2002. In 2016, he became the CM of Kerala and held the portfolio of Home Affairs & Vigilance Departments along with few others.
In his tenure as the CM of Kerala, Vijayan has faced many issues beginning from Nipah, coronavirus pandemic, floods, Sabrimala Temple judgment, and allegations of scam. In 2021, Vijayan-led LDF retained power in Kerala by bettering its 2016 tally and by breaking the state’s dreaded record of voting out every incumbent regime for the past 40 years. He was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Kerala for the second time in a row on May 20, 2021.