Harikrishnan Nadar Vasanthakumar (14 April 195028 August 2020) was an Indian businessman and politician from

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...

. He was the founder and chairman of Vasanth & Co, one of the largest retail home appliance chains in Tamil Nadu. He was also the founder and managing director of the Tamil satellite TV channel

Vasanth TV Vasanth TV is a Tamil entertainment satellite channel which is owned by MP Vijay Vasanth of Vasanth & Co Group. The company has tied up with Tata Communications for providing the uplinking facilities. List of shows *''Aalaya Darisanam'' *' ...

. He was elected as the

member of parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

to the

17th Lok Sabha The 17th Lok Sabha was formed by the members elected in the 2019 Indian general election. Elections, all across India, were conducted in seven phases from 11 April 2019 to 19 May 2019 by the Election Commission of India. Counting started offic ...

from Kanyakumari constituency in the

2019 Indian general election General elections were held in India in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the result was declared on 23 May. Around 912 million people were eligible to vote, and voter ...

. He was also elected as

member Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set * In object-oriented programming, a member of a class ** Field (computer science), entries in ...

of the

Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a strength of 234 members of whom are democratically elected using the First-past-the-post system. The presiding officer of the Assembl ...

from

Nanguneri Nanguneri is a panchayat town in Tirunelveli district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Nanguneri is a Taluk Headquarters in the District of Tirunelveli situated at a distance of from the headquarters of the District. Vanamamalai Peruma ...

constituency in the 2006 and

2016 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2016. Africa Benin Republic *2016 Beninese presidential election 6 March 2016 Cape Verde * 2016 Cape Verdean presidential election 2 October 2016 Chad * 2016 Chadian presidential election 10 A ...

Early life

Vasanthakumar was born in

Agastheeswaram Agastheeswaram is a panchayat town in Kanniyakumari district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. History Agasteeswaram is named after Sage Agastya who had visited this place to teach Ramayana. Most of the people from this village are well educat ...

in the

Kanniyakumari district Kanniyakumari district is one of the 38 districts in Tamil Nadu state and the southernmost district in mainland India. It stands second in terms of population density among the districts of Tamil Nadu. It is also the richest district in Tamil Na ...

to Harikrishnan Nadar and Thangammal on 14 April 1950. He completed his primary education from a Panchayat board school in Kanniyakumari, later obtaining his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

Tamil literature Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly from T ...

from the Madurai University, as well as a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

. His brother,

Kumari Ananthan Anandan kumari is executive committee member and veteran leader of Tamil Nadu congress committee.Perumthalivar Kamarajar awardee of the year 2021. Member of Parliament He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Nagercoil constituency as an India ...

, was also a legislator from the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

Business career

He started his career as a salesman in the early 1970s, including working with VGP. In 1978, he started his own home appliances sales showroom Vasanth & Co, with its first store in the

T. Nagar Thyagaraya Nagar, commonly known as T. Nagar, and historically known as East Mambalam, is a very affluent commercial and residential neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is surrounded by Nungambakkam in the North, Teynampet in the Ea ...

neighborhood in Chennai. The company went on to become one of the leading retail chains with showrooms across

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Kar ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a 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 regions of Cochin, Malabar, South C ...

, and

Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to: * Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India ** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry ta ...

. Vasanthakumar and his company are credited with pioneering sales of consumer electronics goods on

equated monthly installment An equated monthly installment (EMI) is defined by Investopedia as "A fixed payment amount made by a borrower to a lender at a specified date each calendar month. Equated monthly installments are used to pay off both interest and principal each ...

s in the Indian market, as well as centralized after-sales support. Vasanthakumar also found the Tamil satellite television network

in 2008.

Political career

Vasanthakumar started his political career as a worker with the

political party taking up multiple local organizational roles. His first electoral politics stint was in 2006, as the MLA of

from the

constituency in Tamil Nadu. He won the elections by defeating S.P. Sooryakumar of the

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK) is an Indian regional political party with great influence in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is a Dravidian party founded by the former chief ...

political party. This was a significant win for the

party A party is a gathering of people who have been invited by a host for the purposes of socializing, conversation, recreation, or as part of a festival or other commemoration or celebration of a special occasion. A party will often feature ...

because it was after three decades that the party was able to win this electoral seat. One of his campaign promises included the establishment of a

Special economic zone A special economic zone (SEZ) is an area in which the business and trade laws are different from the rest of the country. SEZs are located within a country's national borders, and their aims include increasing trade balance, employment, increas ...

with a hi-tech park in Nanguneri. He contested the election from Kanyakumari Lok Sabha constituency in 2014 against

Pon Radhakrishnan Pon Radhakrishnan (born 1 March 1952) is an Indian politician from Tamil Nadu, representing the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Shipping between May 2014 and May 2019. Earlier ...

and lost the elections. In his second term as a member of the

, he represented Nanguneri again in 2016. He served the constituency until 2019 when he went on to become the MP, as a member of the

from the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha constituency. He won this election, against the incumbent Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, and Minister of State in the Ministry of Shipping

, by winning with a margin of over 250,000 votes. He was the working President of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) from 2019 through his death in August 2020. Earlier, he had served as the Vice-President of the TNCC, and also as the Chairman of the TNCC Traders wing.

Writings

Vasanthakumar wrote a three part autobiographical book series in Tamil, titled ''"Vetri Padikattu"'' – "வெற்றிப் படிக்கட்டு" – (English: Ladder of Success), focusing on his entrepreneurial success and community building initiatives.

Death

Vasanthakumar died of complications from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

at the

Apollo Hospitals Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited is an Indian multinational healthcare group headquartered in Chennai. Along with the eponymous hospital chain, the company also operates pharmacies, primary care and diagnostic centres, telehealth clinics ...

in Chennai on 28 August 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic in India The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). As of , according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest n ...

. He was admitted to the hospital on 10 August 2020, and was on

ECMO Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), also known as extracorporeal life support (ECLS), is an extracorporeal technique of providing prolonged cardiac and respiratory support to persons whose heart and lungs are unable to provide an adequat ...

and ventilator life support, prior to his death.

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese f ...

Ram Nath Kovind Ram Nath Kovind (; born 1 October 1945) is an Indian politician who served as the 14th President of India from 2017 to 2022. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the second person after K. R. Narayanan, from the Dalit community ...

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister The chief minister of Tamil Nadu is the chief executive of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with t ...

Edappadi K. Palaniswami, Congress leader and

Wayanad Wayanad () is a district in the north-east of Indian state Kerala with administrative headquarters at the municipality of Kalpetta. It is the only plateau in Kerala. The Wayanad Plateau forms a continuation of the Mysore Plateau, the sout ...

Rahul Gandhi Rahul Gandhi ( ; born 19 June 1970) is an Indian politician and a member of the Indian Parliament, representing the constituency of Wayanad, Kerala in the 17th Lok Sabha. A member of the Indian National Congress, he served as the president of ...

Governor of Tamil Nadu The governor of Tamil Nadu is the head of state of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The governors have similar powers and functions at the state level as those of the president of India at central level. They exist in the state appointed by t ...

Banwarilal Purohit Banwarilal Purohit (born 16 April 1940) is an Indian politician who is the current and 29th Governor of Punjab, India and Administrator of Chandigarh as of 29 August 2021. He was the former Governor of Tamil Nadu from 2017 to 2021, and form ...

among others were amongst those who expressed their condolences. He is survived by his wife Tamil Selvi, two sons, and a daughter. His wife was also undergoing treatment for COVID-19 at the time of his death.

References

, -

External links

Vasanth TV
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasanthakumar, H. 1950 births 2020 deaths India MPs 2019–present 20th-century Indian businesspeople 21st-century Indian businesspeople Businesspeople from Tamil Nadu Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India Indian National Congress politicians from Tamil Nadu People from Kanyakumari district Tamil Nadu politicians Tamil businesspeople United Progressive Alliance candidates in the 2014 Indian general election