Kummanam Rajasekharan

Rajasekharan was born on 23 December 1952 to Adv V. K. Ramakrishna Pillai and P. Parukkutty Amma in Kummanam village of Kottayam district in Travancore-Cochin (present-day Kerala), India. He completed his school education from Government Upper Primary School in Kummanam and N.S.S. High School in Kottayam. He completed pre-degree education from Baselius College, Kottayam and later joined CMS College Kottayam and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Botany. He then took a postgraduate diploma in journalism and began a career in journalism as sub-editor in various newspapers.[4][5][6][7]

In 1974, Rajasekharan joined Deepika news-daily as sub-editor, embarking a career in journalism. He later worked in different new-dailies such as Rastravaartha, Keraladesam, Kerala Bhooshanam and Kerala Dwani. In 1976, he took a break from journalism and joined Food Corporation of India (FCI) as a government servant. In 1979, he became Kottayam district Secretary of Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) and later became its state Joint Secretary in 1981. He resigned the job from FCI in 1987 and became a pracharak (full-time worker) in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).[6][8][9]

Kummanam Rajasekharan with Venkaiah Naidu

Kummanam Rajasekharan with Rajnath Singh

He came into contact with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh during his student days. In 1979, he became the district-secretary of Vishwa Hindu Parishad and later was associated with many Hindu organisations in Kerala in various capacities.[10][11]

In 1983, he participated in the movement against 'Nilakkal land encroachment' and worked for 'Paliyam declaration' pronounced by prominent Hindu religious scholars.[12] In 2012, he participated in the agitation against KGS Aranmula International Airport. He was the Chief Patron of Aranmula Heritage Village Action Council which protested against this airport.[13]

• In 1981, became State Joint-Secretary of Vishwa Hindu Parishad.
• In 1983, was appointed as General-Convener of Nilakkal Action Council and lead the mass agitation against the encroachment in Nilakkal.[12]
• In 1985, became General-Secretary of Hindu Munnani (Hindu Front)
• In 1987, he contested from Thiruvananthapuram constituency as Hindu Munnani candidate.
• In 1988, he was appointed General-Secretary of Guruvayoor Temple Action Council and led agitation to take out Jacob Thampi from managing committee of Guruvayoor Temple.
• In 1989, was appointed Editor of Janmabhumi daily, Kochi.
• In 1992, was designated General-Convenor of Hindu Aikya Vedi.
• In 1996, was appointed Organising-Secretary of Vishwa Hindu Parishad
• In 1998, was appointed General-Convener of Sivagiri Samara Sahaya Samithi to assist the agitations led by Swami Prakashananda protesting against his removal from presidency of Sivagiri Madom.
• In 2003, lead a mass agitation against the Marad massacre.
• In 2007, was designated as Managing Director of Janmabhumi daily.
• In 2009, was selected as General-Secretary of Sabarimala Ayyappa Seva Samajam.[14]
• In 2010, was appointed General-Secretary of Hindu Aikya Vedi.
• In 2011, was appointed as Chairman, Janamabhumi daily.[15]
• In 2012, was appointed as Chief Patron (Mukhya Rakshadhikari) of Aranmula Heritage Village Action Council.
• In 2015, was appointed as President, BJP Kerala State Unit from 18 December.
• In 2018, was appointed as the Governor of Mizoram on May 25.[16] He resigned from the post on 8 March 2019.[17]
• In 2019, contested Lok Sabha elections 2019 from Thiruvananthapuram constituency against former Union minister Shashi Tharoor and former state minister C. Divakaran.[18] Tharoor emerged the winner with a margin of 99,989 votes over Rajasekharan.[19]
• In October 2020, he was chosen as the representative of the Central Government in the Administrative Committee of Sree Padmanabha Swamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram.[20]

In December 2015, Kummanam Rajasekharan made a communal statement while attending a public function that, “Vendors from other religions shouldn’t be allowed in temple premises and temple committees could decide on letting vendors from other religions operate at temple premises”. This led to widespread protest in the state. The Government of Kerala as well as opposition parties opposed this statement and accused that Kummanam is trying to create communal division and transform the temples to RSS offices.[23]

In May 2017, Kummanam circulated a video in his social media account which claimed CPI(M) men celebrating the murder of an RSS worker. The video turned out to be a fake one and a police case was registered against him.[24]

In June 2018, just days after Kummanam was sworn in as the Governor of Mizoram, a campaign to remove him from the post, by labelling him as ‘communal and anti-Christian’, was initiated by some Christian organisations.[25]

In October 2020, the Aranmula police filed a lawsuit against Kummanam, among several others, for allegedly defrauding an individual of several lakh rupees. According to the prosecution, on the premise of making him a collaborator in a factory-unit to be established in Palakkad, the accused allegedly took ₹36 lakh from the victim.[26]

• Official website
• Missionaries