Pulimoottil Thomas Punnoose (20 November 1911 – 1971) was an Indian politician. He was elected to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

, the lower house of the

Parliament of India The Parliament of India (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ) is the supreme legislative body of the Republic of India. It is a bicameralism, bicameral legislature composed of the president of India and two houses: the R ...

from the Ambalapuzha in

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

Early life and education

P.T Punnoose was born on 20 November 1911 at

Thiruvalla Thiruvalla, alternately spelled Tiruvalla, is a town in Kerala and the Headquarters of the Taluk of the same name located in Pathanamthitta district in the State of Kerala, India. The town is spread over an area of . It lies on the banks of ...

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At ...

. His father was I. Thomas. He was educated at

Changanacherry Changanassery or Changanacherry is a municipal town in Kottayam district in the state of Kerala, India. History The first recorded history on the origin of Changanacherry is obtained from Sangam period literature. According to Sangam era d ...

and

Trivandrum Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

Marriage and children

P.T. Punnoose married Rosamma Punnoos who was a Catholic and later leader of the Communist Party of India (

CPI A consumer price index (CPI) is a price index, the price of a weighted average market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households. Changes in measured CPI track changes in prices over time. Overview A CPI is a statistic ...

), in 1946. Punnoose was a Marthoma Syrian. No marriage between a Catholic woman and a Marthoma man had ever occurred in the region, at the time. Besides which, Rosamma's family supported the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

, and objected to her marrying a communist. Furthermore, he was wanted by police and authorities who were conducting a crackdown against communists at the time. As with all Christian weddings between communist couples, at the time, the two were married at a church in

Cochin Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

with a special letter of consent from the Pope. He had to be brought to the church quietly to evade to police. They have two children a daughter and son.

Political view

P.T. Punnoose was one of the early leaders of communist movement in

. He had started his political career at

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

during the time of freedom struggle. He was attracted to ideologies of

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

. He remained in the CPI after the historical split in 1964.

References

Communist Party of India politicians from Kerala 20th-century Indian politicians 1911 births 1971 deaths Indian independence activists from Kerala Kingdom of Travancore India MPs 1957–1962 {{Kerala-CPIndia-politician-stub

Early life and education

Marriage and children

Political view

See also

References