Kummanam Rajasekharan

Kummanam Rajasekharan (born 23 December 1952) is an Indian politician and former Governor of Mizoram. He began his political career as an activist of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Sangh Parivar in the state of Kerala in 1970. From 2015 to 2018, he was the state president of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala. He is also the first ever BJP leader from Kerala state to become Governor.

In 1987, he resigned from government service and became a full-time Sangh Parivar worker, while being instrumental in spearheading Kerala's Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), Kshetra Samrakshana Samiti, Balasadanams, and Ekal Vidyalayas. Rajaseharan has been the secretary of Hindu Aikya Vedi, Sabarimala Ayyappa Seva Samajam, General-Secretary and Chairman of Janmabhumi.

In 2019, he was conferred with a Doctor of Letters degree by the Shri Jagdishprasad Jhabrmal Tibrewala University for honouring his contributions to the field of social work.

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.

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).

In 1983, he participated in the movement against 'Nilakkal land encroachment' and worked for 'Paliyam declaration' pronounced by prominent Hindu religious scholars. 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.

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.

• 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.
• 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 appointedGeneral-Secretary of Guruvayoor Temple Action Council and led agitation to take out Jacob Thampi from managing committee of Guruvayoor Temple.
• In 1989, was appointedEditor of Janmabhumi daily, Kochi.
• In 1992, was designatedGeneral-Convenor of Hindu Aikya Vedi.
• In 1996, was appointedOrganising-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.
• In 2010, was appointed General-Secretary of Hindu Aikya Vedi.
• In 2011, was appointed as Chairman, Janamabhumi daily.
• 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. He resigned from the post on 8 March 2019.
• In 2019, contested Lok Sabha elections 2019 from Thiruvananthapuram constituency against former Union minister Shashi Tharoor and former state minister C. Divakaran. Tharoor emerged the winner with a margin of 99,989 votes over Rajasekharan.

On the eveningof 2 May 2003, a group of fishermen were attacked by a mob armed with swords and deadly weapons with the help of local political support. Nine people were killed in that attack. Many were seriously wounded. Mass protests were carried out by various Hindu organisations under the banner of the Hindu Aikya Vedi, against the violence. Kerala government decided to announce compensation for victims' families and ordered a judicial inquiry into the incident. As the General-Secretary of Hindu Aikya Vedi, RSS, Kummanam Rajasekharan helped the victims of the massacre.