Diwan Bahadur Pattu Kesava Pillai (8 October 1860 – 28 March 1933) was an Indian journalist, politician and activist of the Indian Independence movement.

Early life

Pattu Kesava Pillai was born in a

Vellalar Vellalar is a generic Tamil term used primarily to refer to various castes who traditionally pursued agriculture as a profession in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and northeastern parts of Sri Lanka. The Vellalar are members of several ...

family of Pattu in

North Arcot North Arcot was a former district in Madras Presidency, acquired by the annexation of the Arcot State in 1855 when its Nawab died without issue. It had Chittoor as its headquarters (currently in Andhra pradesh). On 1 April 1911, the Chittoor ...

district on 8 October 1860. He studied in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and began his career as a journalist for ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

''. In 1883, at the age of 22, Kesava Pillai was appointed ''The Hindus correspondent for

Gooty Gooty ( ) is a town in Anantapur district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is the headquarters of Gooty mandal in Anantapur revenue division. The town is renowned for the Gooty Fort, Gooty hill fort. Geography Gooty is located at ...

. From then on, Kesava Pillai became known as "Gooty Kesava Pillai".

Public life

Kesava Pillai was elected to Gooty municipality and served as a member of the municipality. He was also eventually elected to the

Madras Legislative Council Tamil Nadu Legislative Council was the upper house of the former bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It began its existence as Madras Legislative Council, the first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency. It was initia ...

as representing Municipalities.

Politics

Kesava Pillai was interested in politics from an early stage in his life. He participated in the first session of 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 ...

held at Bombay on 28 December 1885 representing the town of Gooty. At a later stage, he adopted more reactionary methods and was jailed from time to time. He was staunchly opposed to the Justice Party and the Dravidian Movement.

Madras Legislative Council

Kesava Pillai served in the Madras Legislative Council for quite a long time and is credited with having proposed a number of reforms. He was the principal architect of the Jail Commission and moved the Jail policy resolution which was passed by the government of the

Raja of Panagal Raja Sir Panaganti Ramarayaningar KCIE (9 July 1866 – 16 December 1928), also known as the Raja of Panagal, was a ''zamindar'' of Kalahasti, a Justice Party leader and the Chief Minister or Premier of Madras Presidency from 11 July 19 ...

. He was also responsible for the creation of the Madras Forest Commission. Kesava Pillai was eventually elected Vice-President of the Madras Legislative Council and served in his capacity for some time.

References

Biographies

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pillai, Gooty Kesava 1860 births 1933 deaths 19th-century Indian journalists 20th-century Indian journalists The Hindu journalists Indian National Congress politicians from Tamil Nadu 20th-century Indian politicians 19th-century Indian politicians Writers from Chennai Journalists from Tamil Nadu