C. M. Padhmanabhan Nair was an Indian politician from

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

Early life

C. M. Padhmanabhan Nair was born in the

Trikarpur Thrikaripur a small town located in south part of Kasaragod District in the state of Kerala, India. Its southernmost end Olavara touches Payyannur, Kannur District. Demographics The 2001 Census of India determined that the population of Trik ...

village of

. He was born rich but spent all his wealth to serve society. He was born in a famous Chandera Madiyan family. C. M. Kunhikammaran Nair, C.M Gopalakrishnan Nair and CM Kunhiraman Nair were his brothers.

Marriage

The famous poet

Vallathol Vallathol is an Indian Malayalam name that may refer to *Vallathol Narayana Menon (1878–1958), Malayalam poet ** Vallathol Award ** Vallathol Museum in Thrissur District, India ** Vallathol Nagar railway station in Thrissur District, India * Vall ...

had a very close friendship with CMP and even wanted him to establish a permanent relationship with his family through marriage, as indicated in their correspondence. He also visited CMP in 1949. However, for some reason, perhaps astrological, CMP married Puravangara Indira Amma, related to another notable poet, P. Kunhiraman Nair Image:vallathol.jpg, Letter from

Political life

Initially he worked for ordnance factories in various north Indian cities. However, he was attracted to the

Indian Independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events in South Asia with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British colonial rule. It lasted until 1947, when the Indian Independence Act 1947 was passed. The first nationalistic ...

and came back to

after resigning. Inspired by the socialistic philosophy of

Jaya Prakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known as JP and ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist and Indian independence activist, independence activist. He is mai ...

and Dr.

Ram Manohar Lohia Ram Manohar Lohia ( 23 March 1910 – 12 October 1967) was an Indian political activist of the Indian independence movement and a socialist politician. As a nationalist, he worked actively to protest against colonialism, raising awareness of th ...

, he joined the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

when it was formed. He contested in the first election in Madras assembly from Hosdurg against the Melath Narayanan Nambiar in 1951. See election reports on the website of

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...

. Though he lost the election, he continued to build the Socialist Party in Kerala, which merged with the

Janata Party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...

in 1977.

Business life

After spending his hereditary and earned wealth for society and politics, during the 1960s he became disillusioned with politics and started a stationery store in

Trikaripur Thrikaripur a small town located in south part of Kasaragod District in the state of Kerala, India. Its southernmost end Olavara touches Payyannur, Kannur District. Demographics The 2001 Census of India determined that the population of Trik ...

. Unfortunately he could not sustain the shop as most of his customers were poor people who were not able to pay their debts. He then started CM Agency representing the Patanwala company in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

. When he went to Bombay to discuss the business deal, socialist party members gave him a memorable welcome. He was also given a gold medal by B.D. Jetty (former Chief Minister of Karnataka and former President of India) for his achievements during this tenure. However, he was not happy and wanted to create employments by becoming an entrepreneur. He attempted various businesses such as hotel, newspaper, and finance, but he could not sacrifice his humanitarian values for business. He soon realised that he could not succeed in business and went to various holy places without informing anyone.

Return to political life

After a few failed business ventures, he came back to Kerala in response to an invitation from K. Chandrasekharan and M. P. Veerendrakumar. Active members of the socialist party such as Sri Karthambu Mistri and Sri Koran Master played an important role in convincing him to return to politics. After coming back he served as the chairman of the party at Cannanore District. He started living in

Bellikoth Ajanur (also anglicized Ajanoor) is a grama panchayat and also a village of the same name in Kasargode district, Kasaragod district of Kerala, India. It is the fifth largest town in Kasaragod district. Ajanur vs. Kanhangad Ajanur is in fact a bu ...

, Ajanoor,

Kanhangad Kanhangad () is a commercial city, located in the Kasaragod District, state of Kerala, India. Location The area contains villages around Kanhangad town with Kasaragod as the northern border, Nileshwar, popularly known as the 'cultural town' ...

in the house inherited by his wife.

Contributions during emergency

He was one of the few leaders who actively and courageously opposed emergency declared by the government. He was arrested during emergency and placed in jail till 1977 when the emergency was lifted.

Contributions to cooperative sector

He played a critical role in establishing many cooperative institutions in Kerala. He held positions in many cooperative societies such as

Cooperative Bank, Cooperative Store, Rural Housing Society, Malabar District Bank,

Nileshwaram Nileshwaram or Nileshwar or Neeleeswaram is a municipality and a major town in Kasaragod District, state of Kerala, India. It is one of the three municipalities in Kasaragod district; the others are Kasaragod and Kanhangad. Nileshwaram is lo ...

, and Coconut Marketing Society. His term as president of the Kottacherry Cooperative Society is noteworthy due to the progress he made during his tenure (1977–1978).

Death

He died on 11 June 1978 due to a heart attack. The people of Trikarpur have built a library in the town in his name as a memorial. The Janata Party National Executive council held on 11 July 1978 under the Prime Minister

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian politician and Indian independence activist, independence activist who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India between 1977 and 1979 leading th ...

honored him and a few other party leaders by observing a moment of silence, as per the minutes of the meeting.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nair, C.M. Padmanabhan People from Kasaragod district Malayali politicians 1977 deaths Year of birth missing