P. Rajeev is an Indian politician, who currently serves as the Minister for Industries, Law and Coir in the

Government of Kerala The Government of Kerala (abbreviated as GoK), also known as the Kerala Government, is the administrative body responsible for governing the Indian States and territories of India, state of Kerala. The government is led by a chief minister, who ...

. He represents Kalamassery constituency in 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 ...

Early life and career

Punnadath Rajeev was elected to Rajya Sabha on 27 April 2009. He is a native of Meladoor in

Thrissur district Thrissur (), anglicised as Trichur, is one of the List of districts of Kerala, 14 districts in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kerala. It is situated in the central region of the state. Spanning an area of about , th ...

. He was born to late P. Vasudevan (Retired Revenue Inspector) and Radha Vasudevan. Rajeev completed his schooling at Government Samithy High School, Meladoor and then joined for his pre degree education at

Christ College, Irinjalakuda Christ College (Autonomous), Irinjalakuda, is a government-aided college located in Irinjalakuda, Kerala, India. It stands as a Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, Syro-Malabar Catholic educational institution administered by the Carmelites of Mary ...

. He graduated in Economics from the

St. Paul's College, Kalamassery St. Paul's College, Kalamassery located at Kochi (India), Kochi was founded by Joseph Attipetty, the late Archbishop of Verapoly to commemorate the historic visit of Pope Paul VI to India in connection with the 38th International Eucharistic Con ...

and later took his LL.B degree from the

Government Law College, Ernakulam The Government Law College, Ernakulam, also known as His Highness the Maharajas Government Law College, Ernakulam is a prestigious institution for undergraduate and post-graduate legal education in Kochi, Kerala, India. Founded in 1875, it is ...

. He also holds a diploma in Chemical Engineering from Government Polytechnic College,

Kalamassery Kalamassery () is a major industrial region in the city of Kochi in the state of Kerala, India. It is located around northeast of the city centre. Kalamassery is a major hub for industrial and Information Technology, IT activities in Kochi. In ...

, where he started his political activism. He was a practising lawyer at the

High Court of Kerala The High Court of Kerala is the highest court in the Indian state of Kerala and the Union territory of Lakshadweep. It is located in Kochi. Drawing its powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the High Court has the power to issu ...

before taking full-time political and organizational responsibilities. Rajeev is married to Dr. Vani Kesari who is teaching law at the School of Legal Studies, Cochin University of Science and Technology. The couple have two daughters, Hridhya Rajeev and Haritha Rajeev. Rajeev is one of the Secretariat members of CPI(M) Kerala State committee. He was a member of parliament (

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 ...

) from 2009 to 2015. Rajeev had been the most active member of the upper house during his stint and had raised several popular issues in the house. When he retired, leaders from most political parties pleaded with CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury to consider getting Rajeev elected again to the parliament. He was highly praised for his parliamentary performance by political opponents like former finance minister Arun Jaitley, Congress leader Gulam Nabi Azad, BSP supremo Mayawati and Rajya Sabha deputy chairman P. J. Kurien. His Parliamentary performance was highly applauded and was outstanding. He won the Sansad Ratna Award in 2016 for his outstanding contributions in the Parliament. In

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 vote ...

, he contested from

Ernakulam (Lok Sabha constituency) Ernakulam Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 20 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Kerala state in southern India. It comprises 7 legislative assembly constituencies. The constituency is dominated by Latin Catholics, making this se ...

. In 2020, his book ''Bharanaghadana: Charithravum Samskaravum'' received the Abu Dhabi Sakthi Award in the scholarly literature category. In the

2021 Kerala Legislative Assembly Election The 2021 Kerala Legislative Assembly election was held in Kerala on 6 April 2021 to elect 140 Member of the Legislative Assembly (India), members to the 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly. The results were declared on 2 May. The election saw the ...

, Rajeev defeated V. E. Abdul Gafoor of the

Indian Union Muslim League Indian Union Muslim League (abbreviated as the IUML or Muslim League) is a political party primarily based in Kerala. It is recognised as a List of political parties in India, State Party in Kerala by the Election Commission of India. After the ...

and got elected from

state assembly constituency, Ernakulam District. P Rajeev was included in the second

Pinarayi Vijayan Pinarayi Vijayan (; born 24 May 1945) is an Indian politician who has served as the List of chief ministers of Kerala, Chief Minister of Kerala since 25 May 2016. A member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), politburo ...

ministry as Minister for Industries.

Political career

Rajeev started his public life as an organizer of the

Students' Federation of India The Students' Federation of India (SFI) is a left-wing student organization in India that upholds ideology of independence, democracy, and socialism. History The origin of Indian students movement in its organised form can be traced to th ...

(SFI) being active from his School days. Later he became the President and then Secretary of SFI Kerala State Committee. He also held positions including the Joint Secretary and Vice President of SFI Central Committee. Later he was active in the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) where he held the post of district secretary. Rajeev is now a Central committee member of CPI(M). Rajeev also served as the Chief Editor of

Deshabhimani ''Deshabhimani'' is a Malayalam newspaper and the organ of the Kerala State Committee of the CPI(M). It started as a weekly in Kozhikode on 6 September 1942 and converted to a daily in 1946. The paper now has ten different printing centres: Ko ...

Daily.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rajeev, P Indian communists Rajya Sabha members from Kerala Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Kerala MLAs 2021–2026 Recipients of the Abu Dhabi Sakthi Award Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from Kerala