P. K. Mookiah Thevar (1923-1979) was an Indian politician.

Early life

He was born to Kattamuthu Ocha Thevar and Sevenamal on 4 April 1923 in Pappapatti village, near

Usilampatti Usilampatti () is a town and a second grade municipality in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is also a designated taluk and revenue division. Location Usilampatti town lies 37 km south west of Theni town and 32 km west of Madurai ...

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

district, India. He participated in many activities as a student leader. Later, he formed the Kallar educational trust and took several steps designed for the upliftment of all backward classes community in southern

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

.He worked for the upliftment of downtrodden people.

Political career

Later, he joined

Forward Bloc The All India Forward Bloc ( AIFB) is a left-wing nationalist political party in India. It emerged as a faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, led by Subhas Chandra Bose. The party re-established as an independent political party a ...

, an Indian National Political Party, formed by

Subhas Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945 * * * * * * * * *) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperia ...

, under the guidance of

Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar Ukkirapandi Muthuramalinga Thevar (30 October 1908 – 30 October 1963), also known as Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar, was an Indian freedom struggle fighter, politician, patriarch of Thevar community and a close accomplice of Subash Chand ...

. He was elected for the Periakulam Assembly constituency in 1952–1957 as a Forward Bloc candidate. He also served as a

Member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. S ...

for four terms (1957–1962, 1962–1967, 1967–1971, 1971, 1977–1979). In 1971 he matched the achievement of U. Muthuramalinga Thevar in winning both

Assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

and

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

elections simultaneously. His parliamentary constituency was that of

Ramanathapuram Ramanathapuram (), also known as Ramnad, is a town and a municipality in Ramanathapuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Ramanathapuram district and the second largest town (by population) in ...

district and his period of office as an MP ran from 1971 to 1977. As the most senior member of the Assembly, he served as the ''pro tem'' speaker in Tamil Nadu assembly in 1967 and 1977. In 1963, he was elected as Vice President of All India FORWAR BLOC after the death of Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar. In 1971, he was elected as the President of All India Forward Bloc. In 1974 he made a famous speech on Kachhatheevu in the parliament . He strongly opposed the handing over of Kachhatheevu to the Sri Lankan government. He also filed a "white paper" on this issue.

Electoral records

He was elected to the

Tamil Nadu legislative assembly The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a strength of 234 members of whom are democratically elected using the First-past-the-post voting, First-past-the-post system. The pres ...

from Usilampatti constituency as an Independent candidate in 1957 election, and as a

candidate in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events Ja ...

and 1977 elections.1977 Tamil Nadu Election Results, Election Commission of India
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Later life and death

He was the founder of three Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar Colleges at Usilampatti, Neelithinallur, and Kamuthi. In these he offered free education and also free board and lodging to poor students, irrespective of their caste. He arranged for a statue of Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar, his political guru, in Madurai. He was known as ''Urangapuli'' ("the tiger that doesn't sleep"). and fondly called as "Thevar thandha Thevar" Thevar(himself) given by Thevar(Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar)" He died on 6 September 1979 and a statue to him was unveiled in Arasaradi by Malayandi Thevar who was former secretary general of AIFB Mill association, Madurai, in 1990.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thevar, P.K. Mookiah All India Forward Bloc politicians 1923 births 1979 deaths India MPs 1971–1977 Lok Sabha members from Tamil Nadu People from Ramanathapuram district Madras MLAs 1957–1962 Madras MLAs 1962–1967 Tamil Nadu MLAs 1971–1976 Tamil Nadu MLAs 1977–1980