Anaparambil Joseph John (18 July 1893 – 1 October 1957) was an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

politician and statesman. He was

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

of Travancore-Cochin and

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Madras State Madras State was a state in the Indian Republic, which was in existence during the mid-20th century as a successor to the Madras Presidency of British India. The state came into existence on 26 January 1950 when the Constitution of India was ad ...

Early life

He was born in 1893, to Joseph of the Anaparambil house at

Thalayolaparambu Thalayolaparambu is a town situated in Kottayam district in Kerala, India. Spanning over an area of 19.3 square kilometres with a population of 22,571 people, this mini-town is home to some of the well-known personalities such as the former Ch ...

and had his primary education at the local school and finished his school final from Vaikom High School. After doing the degree in law in 1919 from the Law College, Madras, he began his career as a lawyer. The turning point in John's life came when he plunged into freedom struggle after abandoning his bright future in his profession. He was one of the founding leaders of ''Travancore State Congress''. He was in the forefront of the historic ''Abstention Movement'' which rocked

Travancore The kingdom of Travancore (), also known as the kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor () or later as Travancore State, was a kingdom that lasted from until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvanan ...

for some time; an agitation against social injustice staged by the weaker sections and backward classes for proportionate representations in government service. He fought against ''Independent Travancore'' proposed by C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar in 1946.

Chief Minister of Travancore-Cochin

In the first general elections held in India in 1951–52, John was elected from Poonjar constituency to the Travancore-Cochin Legislative Assembly. The Congress formed Government with A. J. John as Chief Minister in March 1952 with the support of the Travancore Tamil Nadu Congress (T.T.N.C.). The ministry lost confidence motion due to the withdrawal of support from the T.T.N.C. He also served as Speaker of the first Travancore Legislative Assembly in 1948, and as Minister in all subsequent ministries up to 1956.

Governor of Madras State

A. J. John was appointed Governor of

in 1956 and continued in that office until his death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:John, A. J. 1893 births 1957 deaths Indian National Congress politicians from Kerala Indian anti-communists Malayali politicians Chief ministers of Kerala Governors of Tamil Nadu Governors of Madras Chief ministers from Indian National Congress Travancore–Cochin MLAs 1952–1954 Travancore–Cochin MLAs 1954–1956