Raja Shri Pattom A. Thanu Pillai (15 July 188527 July 1970) was a participant in the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

who later served as the chief minister of

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 ...

from 22 February 1960 to 25 September 1962. He was known as the 'Bhishmacharya' of Kerala politics.

Early life

Born in

Thiruvananthapuram 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 ...

, A.Thanu Pillai was the son of Varadayyan and his wife Eswari Amma. Thanu Pillai earned his degree in law and started his legal practice as an advocate. Under the influence of his mentor A. Narayana Pillai, he was attracted towards the newly formed

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 ...

State Congress and he abandoned full-time practice in favour of agitating for responsible government. Following the Narayana Pillai sedition trial, he took over the leadership of

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 E ...

in the erstwhile princely state of

Political career

Early politics

Pattom Thanu Pillai remained as one of the leaders of Indian National Congress during the period when Kingdom of Travancore became an Independent state and later merged with

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 ...

to form Travancore-Cochin. On 3 June 1947, United Kingdom accepted demands for a partition and announced its intention to quit India within a short period. The Maharaja of Travancore desired to declare himself independent.

Dominique Lapierre Dominique Lapierre (30 July 1931 – 2 December 2022) was a French author. Life Dominique Lapierre was born in Châtelaillon-Plage, Charente-Maritime, France. At the age of thirteen, he travelled to the U.S. with his father who was a diploma ...

, Pg 260

, Pg 261 Supported by the then Diwan,

C. P. Ramaswami Iyer Sir Chetput Pattabhiraman Ramaswami Iyer (12 November 1879 – 26 September 1966), popularly known as Sir C. P., was an Indian lawyer, administrator and politician who served as the Advocate-General of Madras Presidency from 1920 to 1923, Law m ...

, Chithira Thirunal issued a declaration of independence on 18 June 1947. As Travancore's declaration of independence was unacceptable to India, negotiations were started with the Diwan by the Government of India. Sir C. P. Remembered, Pg 111 Family sources indicate that C. P., himself, was not in favour of independence but only greater autonomy and that a favourable agreement had been reached between C. P. and the Indian representatives by 23 July 1947 and accession to the Indian Union could not be carried out only because it was pending approval by the Raja. Sir C. P. Remembered, Pg 112 Sir C. P. Remembered, Pg 113 Nevertheless, an assassination attempt was made on C. P. on 25 July 1947 during a concert commemorating the anniversary of Swati Thirunal. C. P. survived with multiple stab wounds and hastened the accession of Travancore state to the Indian Union soon after his recovery.

Later politics

After the accession of Travancore state to the Indian Union, P. G. N. Unnithan took over as the last Diwan of independent Travancore on 20 August 1947 following

resigning as Diwan (subsequent to the attempt on Sir CP's life at the

Swathi Thirunal ( ml, സ്വാതി തിരുനാള്‍ രാമവർമ്മ) (16 April 1813 – 26 December 1846) was the Maharaja of the Kingdom of Travancore. He is also considered as a brilliant music composer and is credited with over 4 ...

Music Academy on 25 July 1947). P. G. N. Unnithan chaired the Travancore Constitutional Reforms Committee. He relinquished office on 24 March 1948 when a people's government led by Sri Pattom Thanu Pillai as Prime Minister took over. Pattom Thanu Pillai was the first Prime Minister of Independent Travancore state. He resigned as Prime Minister of Tranvacore on 17 October 1948. He was succeeded by Parur T. K. Narayana Pillai as the second and last

Prime Minister of Travancore The chief minister of Kerala is the chief executive of the Indian state of Kerala. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Fol ...

. After India's

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

in 1947, Travancore and

were merged to form Travancore-Cochin on 1 July 1949. It was originally called United State of Travancore and Cochin with

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 populatio ...

as the capital. It was renamed State of Travancore-Cochin in January 1950 and was recognised as a state. During merger of Travancore and Cochin E. Ikkanda Warrier was the

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

of the state of

. Warrier resigned as the last

of the state of Cochin on 30 June 1949 helping the merger of the two states. Parur T. K. Narayana Pillai was unanimously elected the leader of the Congress Legislature Party and he assumed charge as the first

chief minister of Travancore-Cochin Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

from 1 July 1949.

Positions and work

First Ministry of the state of Travancore-Cochin headed by Parur T. K. Narayana Pillai resigned on 24 February 1951 following a corruption charge on the ministry. He was succeeded by C. Kesavan as the second

Chief Minister of Travancore-Cochin Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boa ...

. The first assembly of the state of Travancore-Cochin was dissolved on 12 March 1952 following the resignation of C Kesavan. Following the elections to the Legislative Assembly, held on 27 March 1952, A. J. John became the third

. The second assembly of Travancore-Cochin lasted till 16 March 1954. By that time Pattom Thanu Pillai left Indian National Congress and joined Praja Socialist Party (PSP). In the election for the third Legislative Assembly of Travancore-Cochin held in 1954, Praja Socialist Party won 19 seats out of the contested 38 seats. Praja Socialist Party formed a coalition government along with the

who had won 45 seats. Pattom Thanu Pillai became the fourth

with the support of

on 16 March 1954. He resigned on 10 February 1955 and was succeeded by Panampilly Govinda Menon as the last

. He remained in office till 23 March 1956. After that the state remained under President's rule till 5 April 1957. During this time state of

was formed. Under State Reorganisation Act of 1956, the four southern taluks of Travancore, namely Thovalai, Agasteeswaram, Kalkulam and Vilavancode and a part of the Chencotta Taluk was merged with Madras State. On 1 November 1956 Travancore-Cochin was joined with Malabar District of Madras State, the taluk of Kasaragod and

South Kanara South Canara was a district of the Madras Presidency of British India, located at . It comprised the towns of Kassergode and Udipi and adjacent villages, with the capital in Mangalore city. South Canara was one of the most heterogeneous areas o ...

to form the new state of

. After the first ever elections to the Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1957, the Communist Party of India emerged as the single largest party. E M S Namboodiripad formed the first elected government with the support of 5 independent legislators. The government was not able to complete its full 5 year term. The Communist-led government was dissolved as a consequence of the movement known as the ''

Vimochana Samaram The Liberation Struggle in Kerala (1958–59) was a period of anticommunist protest against the first elected state government in Kerala, India, which was led by E. M. S. Namboodiripad of the Communist Party of India. Organised opposition to ...

'' (Liberation Struggle). The Communist government was dismissed on 31 July 1959 and President's rule was imposed in the state, under Article 356 of the constitution. Fresh elections were held in 1960 and Pattom A. Thanu Pillai became the second Chief Minister of Kerala, as head of a PSP-Congress-Muslim League coalition administration. He assumed office on 22 February 1960. However, he resigned as chief minister of Kerala on 26 September 1962 to make way for R. Sankar of the Indian National Congress as the next Chief Minister of the state. He was appointed Governor of Punjab on 1 October 1962 by the Central Government headed by

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

. Later he became Governor of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

on 4 May 1964 and remained in office till 11 April 1968.

Resignation and death

Two years after resigning as Governor of

, Pattom Thanu Pillai died on 27 July 1970, at the ripe old age of 85. His death occurred at his home in Thiruvananthapuram. He was cremated with full state honours at the premises of his home.