K. P. Prabhakaran (died 11 August 2009) was a

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

politician and

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ist 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 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He was a senior leader of the

Communist Party of India The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...

, served as Health Minister of Kerala for one period. At the time of his death, he was the chairman of the State Control Commission of CPI.
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Early activism

Prabhakaran became an activist of

Balasangham Balasangam is an Indian children's organization wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPIM). It has about a million members in about 20,000 units across Kerala. Balasangham is the largest children's groups in Kerala, and its ''kalajatha ...

, the

pioneer movement A pioneer movement is an youth organization, organization for children operated by a communist party. Typically children enter into the organization in elementary school and continue until adolescence. The adolescents then typically join the Yo ...

of the Communist Party in Kerala, in the early 1940s. He went on to become an active cadre of the CPI. He suffered police violence when engaging in trade union struggles amongst toddy workers in Enamavu. He participated, as a delegate from

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

, at the first state conference of CPI, which was held in

Calicut Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature. It is the nineteenth large ...

. When the party was banned in 1948, he was jailed for a year.K P Prabhakaran: A leader who fought for toddy , Kunnath Paran Prabhakaran , Mullakkara Ratnakaran , The New Indian Express
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Trade unionism

Prabhakaran was president of the Enamavu Peringottukara Toddy Workers' Union for 55 years. He was also one of the founders of the District Kole Farmers' Sanghom. In his later years, he served as vice-president of the Kerala State Committee of the

All India Trade Union Congress The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) is the oldest trade union federation in India. It is associated with the Communist Party of India. According to provisional statistics from the Ministry of Labour, AITUC had a membership of 14.2 mil ...

Electoral politics

He was elected to the legislative assembly of Travancore-Cochin in 1951, representing the Manalur constituency. In 1954 he lost the seat to

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

leader

K. Karunakaran Kannoth Karunakaran (5 July 191823 December 2010) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the chief minister of Kerala in 1977, from 1981 to March 1982, from May 1982 to 1987 and from 1991 to 1995. He is the founder of the Indian ...

. In 1977, he was elected to the

Kerala Legislative Assembly The Kerala Legislative Assembly, popularly known as the Kerala Niyamasabha, is the State Assembly of Kerala, one of the 30 states in India. The Assembly is formed by 140 elected representatives. Each elected member represents one of the 140 ...

, representing the Cherpu seat. After the election, he became Health Minister of the state. He retained the Cherpu assembly seat in the 1980 and 1982 elections.

Death

Prabhakaran died at his home in Anthicad on 11 August 2009.Mathrubhumi English - Latest Kerala News, Movies, Health, Women, Automobile, Business, NRI, IT, Sports
/ref> He was cremated with full state honours on 12 August 2009 at his residence premises. During the day, his body had been put on display. Thousands of people visited the house to pay their respects. Prominent participants at the funeral included

Mullappally Ramachandran Mullappally Ramachandran (born 7 November 1944) is an Indian politician and former president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). He is a member of the Indian National Congress, and the son of Congress leader Mullappally Gopalan. ...

(Union Minister of State for Home Affairs), Mullakkara Ratnakaran (Kerala Minister of Agriculture),

Benoy Viswam Binoy Viswam is an Indian politician who was a Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) from Kerala representing the Communist Party of India (CPI) and was its Parliamentary Party leader. A member of the CPI National Secretariat, he is currently th ...

(Kerala Forest Minister),

Elamaram Kareem Elamaram Kareem (born 1 July 1953) is an Indian politician, trade unionist, and a member of Communist Party of India (Marxist). He was a Member of Parliament in Rajya Sabha. He was the Minister for Industries & Commerce in the Left Democratic ...

(Kerala Minister of Industries), P. R. Rajan (

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...

Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...

member), P. C. Chacko (

Thrissur Thrissur (, ), Renaming of cities in India, formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the List of most populous urban agglomerations in Ke ...

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

member) and Mar Jacob Thoomkuzhi (ex-Archbishop, Thrissur).The Hindu : Kerala / Thrissur News : K.P. Prabhakaran cremated
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Family

Prabhakaran was the son of Paran and Lakshmikutty. He was survived by five children, K. P. Gopalakrishnan (Engineer), K. P. Rajendran (Politician), K. P. Surendran (Engineer), K. P. Pradeep (Scientist) and K. P. Ajayan (Engineer). His son K. P. Rajendran was the Revenue Minister of Kerala from 2006-2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prabhakaran, K.P. 2009 deaths Communist Party of India politicians from Kerala Trade unionists from Kerala Year of birth missing All India Trade Union Congress Kerala MLAs 1977–1979 State cabinet ministers of Kerala Politicians from Thrissur district Kerala MLAs 1980–1982 Kerala MLAs 1982–1987