Pinarayi Vijayan

Pinarayi Vijayan (born 24 May 1945) is an Indian politician who is the current Chief Minister of Kerala, serving since 25 May 2016.

Vijayan was born on 24 May 1945 in Pinarayi, Kannur, Kerala, as the youngest son of Koran and Kalyani.

He had 14 siblings of whom only three survived.

After graduating from school, he worked as a handloom weaver for a year before joining for a pre-university course in the Government Brennen College, Thalassery.

Subsequently, he earned B.A. Economics degree from the same college.

He is married to Kamala Vijayan and has two children.

His wife is a retired teacher.

Pinarayi Vijayan entered politics through student union activities at Government Brennen College, Thalassery.

He eventually joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 1964.

Vijayan became Kannur district secretary of the Kerala Students Federation (KSF), which later became the Students Federation of India (SFI).

He went on to become the state secretary and subsequently the state president of KSF.

He then moved on to Kerala State Youth Federation (KSYF), which later became the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI).

He became the president of the state committee.

During that period, when communists in Kerala were organising the political activities from different hide-outs, Pinarayi Vijayan was imprisoned for one and a half years.

Later, he was elected as the president of the Kerala state co-operative bank.

He became the Kannur district secretary of the CPI(M) when M.V. Raghavan left the party over the 'alternative document' row.

At the age of 25, in 1970 assembly election Vijayan conteseted from Kuthuparamba and won the seat making him as Kerala’s youngest legislator, a record still unbroken.

He was elected to the Assembly in 1970, 1977 and 1991 from Kuthuparamba, in 1996 from Payyanur and in 2016 from Dharmadom.

During the emergency rule, when communists in Kerala were organising the political activities from different hide-outs, many CPI(M) members and leaders including Pinarayi Vijayan was imprisoned for one and a half years.

He was arrested and tortured by police.

After his release, Pinarayi Vijayan reached the Kerala Legislative Assembly and made an impassionate speech against senior Congress leader K. Karunakaran holding up the blood-stained shirt he wore when in police custody, causing serious embarrassment to the then C. Achutha Menon government.

He also served in the government of Kerala as Minister of Electric Power and Co-operatives from 1996 to 1998.

In the 1996 assembly election, E. K. Nayanar led LDF won the election and Vijayan was appointed as Minister of Electricity.

Under his ministry Kerala made a huge progress in the generation and distribution of electricity towards self-sufficiency.

A member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), he is the longest-serving secretary of the Kerala State Committee of the CPI(M) (1998–2015).

In 1998, he became the state secretary of the CPI(M), following the death of the incumbent Chadayan Govindan.

After resigning the post as the Minister of Electricity in 1998, Vijayan assumed as state secretary of CPI(M) for 18 years.

As the party has been declining in West Bengal, Tripura and rest of India, under his leadership CPI(M) saw the base of the party strengthening up in the State.

He was elected to the Politburo of the CPI(M) in 2002.

He led the party to a landslide victory in the 2004 Indian general election, 2006 Kerala assembly election, 2014 Indian general election and 2016 Kerala assembly election.

On 26 May 2007 the CPI(M) suspended Pinarayi Vijayan and V. S. Achuthanandan from the Politburo for their public remarks on each other.

Pinarayi was reinstated into the Politburo later.

Vijayan won a seat in the May 2016 Kerala Legislative Assembly election as the CPI(M) candidate for Dharmadom constituency and was selected as the leader of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and became the 12th Chief Minister of Kerala.

He is the first chief minister from Kerala to be re-elected after completing a full term (five years) in office.

In 2022, he also became the longest-continuous serving chief minister of Kerala surpassing C. Achutha Menon who had been the first to remain in office for 2364 consecutive days.

Following the 2016 Legislative Assembly election, Pinarayi Vijayan became the Chief Minister of Kerala.

The swearing-in ceremony of his Left Democratic Front ministry with 19-member cabinet was held on 25 May 2016.

Vijayan held the charge of Home Affairs & Vigilance Departments along with the other portfolios normally held by the Chief Ministers, and not mentioned elsewhere.

He is elected from Dharmadom constituency.

The 2021 election of Kerala saw the incumbent government of Vijayan led Left Democratic Front (LDF) retained to power with 99 seats, 8 more than in the previous election, marking the first time that an alliance won consecutive terms in the state since its 1977 election.