Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan created history on May 2 by becoming the first leader in 40 years to get a second consecutive term. He also ensured that Left’s last bastion in the country kept standing and thriving.

Bucking the cyclic trend of alternating government’s every five years, Vijayan-led UDF won an impressive 98 of the 140 seats. This stupendous show also seals his position in the CPI (M), the party that was left licking its wounds in West Bengal

Form handloom worker to CM
Pinarayi Vijayan, 75, started off as a handloom worker, went on to get a bachelor’s degree in economics and eventually rose to the highest public position in the state — that of the Chief Minister.

Born on May 24 1945 in Pinarayi village of Malabar district in Madras Presidency, Vijayan was one of 14 siblings. Only three of these 14 children survived. After school, Vijayan worked as a handloom worker for a year before joining college.

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In college, Vijayan, who is from the politically dominant Thiyya community, got into student politics. He joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 1964 and gradually went up the party echelons. From Kannur district secretary of the Kerala Students Federation (KSF), he rose to be the district secretary of the CPI(M).

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Arrested during Emergency

Vijayan, who took part in many protests and was arrested during the Emergency in 1975. He later told the media that in the lockup, six policemen continuously beat him till he fainted. After his release, he came to the Assembly and made a powerful speech holding up the blood–stained shirt he said he was wearing during the alleged assault in the lock-up.

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Known for his reticence and organisational skills, Vijayan became a member of the State Secretariat. Vijayan became an MLA at the age of 26 when the party fielded him from Koothuparamba in 1970. He was elected from the same seat again in 1977 and 1991 from Kuthuparamba, in 1996 from Payyanur and in 2016 from Dharmadam. In 1998, he became the state secretary of the CPI(M). He was the longest-serving secretary of the party in Kerala from 1998 to 2015.

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Vijayan proved his administrative skills during his short stint as power minister in the LDF ministry headed by late E K Nayanar during 1996-1998. Vijayan, 75, took over as the chief minister of Kerala in 2016 but not before a tough bout of infighting with Marxist veteran and former chief minister VS Achutanandan.

Vijayan is married to Kamala and has two children.