Political leader, Agriculture Minister of TamilNadu.
Birth
Kakkan was born to Poosari Kakkan (a temple priest) on 18th June 1908 in the Thumbi Village in Melur of Madurai District.
Personal life
Kakkan married Swarnam Parvathi, who was a school teacher in Madurai. He had a daughter and five sons. His daughter Kasthuri Sivasamy took part in the state politics and she married a chief Engineer of Port Blair. His first son P.K Padmanathan was the President and Registrar of the Cooperative societies in TamilNadu. P.K Kasiviswanathan (his third son) was the IPS officer in Madurai. Then the last two sons of Kakkan were Doctors in Chennai. Also Kakkan had a brother Viswanathan Kakkan who was a lawyer. Kakkan’s granddaughter Meenakshi Vijayakumar is the first woman fire Officer of India.
Early Life of P.Kakkan
Kakkan joined the Indian National Congress, when he was studying in the school. He took part in the Independence movement in the earlier days of his life. Kakkan made the Temple entry movement in Madurai during the time, the state Government made the implementation of the Temple Entry Authorization and Indemnity Act in 1939. According to this Act, the restrictions on the lower caste people to enter the temples were cleared.
Later, he took part in the Quit India Movement (August movement) and so he was sent to the Ailpore jail. In the year 1942, Gandhi at the Bombay session of the All-India Congress Committee, began this Quit India movement to put an end to the British rule. During this mass protest, all leaders of the Indian National Congress (INC) were arrested, within a few hours of the Gandhi’s speech. After few years of this movement in 1946, Kakkan was elected to the Constituent Assembly. For the period of 1946 to 1950, he served as the member of the Constituent Assembly.
Political Career of P.Kakkan
From the period of 1952 to 1957, Kakkan worked as a member of the Lok Sabha. Kakkan became the President of the TamilNadu Congress Committee during the time K.Kamraj made the resignation from the TamilNadu Congress Committee President post to become the Chief Minister of TamilNadu. After the elections in 1957, then the Indian National Congress came into power. During this time, Kakkan became the Minister for Public Works. In 1962, he was elected as the member of the Madras Legislative Assembly from the Samayanallur constituency. Then Kakkan became the Minister of Agriculture from the period March 1962 to October 1963.
From October 1963, he became the Home Minister. He became the member of the First Business Advisory Committee on 24th April 1962. He held in that post till the Congress had lost the Assembly elections in 1967. Kakkan was the Home Minister of the Madras state at the time, students made a protest against the Hindi and were shot dead by gunfire. In 1967 Assembly elections, Kakkan lost to the DMK candidate in the Melur constituency. He was Chairman of the TamilNadu Congress Committee from the period of 1969 to 1972. In the year 1973, Kakkan took the retirement from the politics.
P.Kakkan – Achievements
After the formation of the Harijan Seva Sangh for welfare and protection of the lower castes, he took part in the Temple entry movement that took place in 1939. A.Vaidyanathan Iyer of Harijan Sevak Sanga along with P.Kakkan and other members of Scheduled castes entered the Meenakashi Amman temple in Madurai. After their movement many temples were made open to all the communities. Kakkan was the Minister for Public works when the construction of Vaigai reservoir took place in 1959. He was the Minister during the construction of Mettur dam. He started two agricultural Universities in the Madras state as a Minister for Agriculture.. For the welfare of the deprived people, the Arsana Seva Sangam was set up.
Postal Stamp
In the year 1999, the Government of India had released a stamp in remembrance of Kakkan and his service to the country.
Death
Kakkan died on 23rd December 1981 due to illness in Chennai. In October 1981, he got admitted to the Madras Government Hospital for health problems.