La. Ganesan Iyer (born 16 February 1945) is an Indian politician who is serving as the

Governor of Manipur The governor of Manipur is the nominal head and representative of the president of India in the state of Manipur. The governor is appointed by the president for a term of five years. The current and 17th governor of Manipur is La. Ganesan from A ...

since 27 August 2021 and also served additionally as

Governor of West Bengal The Governor of West Bengal is the nominal head of state of the Indian state of West Bengal and a representative of the President of India. The governor is appointed by the president for a term of five years. His official residence is the Raj ...

from 18 July 2022 to 17 November 2022. Prior to serving as governor, he was senior leader of Tamil Nadu

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

Early life

He was born on February 16, 1945, as son of Ilakumirakavan and Alamelu in

Tamil Brahmin Tamil Brahmins are an ethnoreligious community of Tamil-speaking Hindu Brahmins, predominantly living in Tamil Nadu, though they number significantly in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka, in addition to other regions of India, as wel ...

family. He grew with his brother after losing his father at a young age. He joined the

RSS RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many di ...

and left his job without getting married and returned to public life as a full-time activist.

Political career

Before being appointed the General Secretary of TN BJP unit, he was a Pracharak in

. He escaped from the police during The Emergency of the 1970s and lived in hiding for about a year. He then served as the National Secretary and then as the Vice President of BJP at the national level. Later he was selected as the President of BJP's Tamil Nadu state unit. He is a former Member of Parliament in

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

. He replaced the former union minister Najma Heptulla as a Member of parliament in Rajya Sabha from Madhya Pradesh.

Speech about sacrificing Tamil Nadu

Ganesan's comments on protests launched by locals against extraction of hydrocarbons at Neduvasal village in Tamil Nadu sparked a controversy in 2017 when he said, “There is nothing wrong in sacrificing a state for the welfare of the country."

Governor of Manipur

On 22nd August 2021, he was appointed 17th

by President of India Shri

Ram Nath Kovind Ram Nath Kovind (; born 1 October 1945) is an Indian politician who served as the 14th President of India from 2017 to 2022. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He is the second person after K. R. Narayanan, from the Dalit community ...

. He was sworn in as the 17th Governor of Manipur at the Darbar Hall of Raj Bhavan, Imphal on August 27, 2021. He was administered the oath of office by Honourable Chief Justice of

Manipur High Court The Manipur High Court is the High Court of the state of Manipur, India. It was established in 25 March 2013, after making suitable amendments in the Constitution of India and North-Eastern Areas (Re-organisation) Act, 1971. The seat of the Hi ...

PV Sanjay Kumar. Chief Minister

N. Biren Singh Nongthombam Biren Singh ( Meitei pronunciation: /nōng-thōm-bam bī-ren sīng/; born 1 January 1961) is an Indian politician, former footballer and journalist, who is currently serving as the Chief Minister of Manipur for the second term sin ...

, Ministers, and legislators were present in the ceremonial function.

Attack on Kirubanidhi

Kirubanidhi, the first Dalit president of the BJP in Tamil Nadu, along with La Ganesan went to

Indore Indore () is the largest and most populous Cities in India, city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is t ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

to participate in the BJP national council's meeting in 2003. After the meeting, La Ganesan allegedly started abusing Kirubanidhi verbally by calling his caste name. Even though Kirubanidhi tried to pacify him, Ganesan reportedly twisted Kirubanidhi's arm. Later on in an interview, Kirubanidhi said the fight was over the misuse of funds by La Ganesan that he had pointed out.

Additional Charge as Governor of West Bengal

On 18 July 2022, Ganesan assumed the office of

, after nomination of

Jagdeep Dhankhar Jagdeep Dhankhar (born 18 May 1951) is an Indian politician and lawyer, who is serving as the 14th and current vice president of India, since 11 August 2022. Prior to serving in this position, he served as the Governor of West Bengal. He also ...

as Vice-Presidential candidate by

NDA NDA may stand for: Military * National Defence Academy (India), a military academy in India * National Defence Act, legislation for organizing and funding Canada's military * National Defense Academy of Japan, a military academy in Japan * Nig ...

coalition. He was in involved in a controversy during his tenure for his act, by pushing

Sunil Chhetri Sunil Chhetri (born 3 August 1984) is an Indian professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains both Indian Super League club Bengaluru and the India national team. Widely regarded as the greatest Indian footballer of all time, h ...

during the presentation ceremony of

2022 Durand Cup The 2022 Durand Cup, also known as IndianOil Durand Cup due to sponsorship ties with Indian Oil Corporation, was the 131st edition of Durand Cup, the oldest football tournament in Asia, and also the first edition since it was recognised by the ...

for a photo up opportunity.

References

, - Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Tamil Nadu Living people National Democratic Alliance candidates in the 2014 Indian general election Rajya Sabha members from Madhya Pradesh 1945 births Rajya Sabha members from the Bharatiya Janata Party People from Thanjavur {{BJP-politician-stub