->20SS00 at 16:50, 6 January 2022

2022-01-06T16:50:55Z

New page

{{Short description|Indian lawyer, politician and writer}}
{{EngvarB|date=January 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{sources|biography|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox politician
| name = K. Aiyappan Pillai
| image =
| imagesize =
| office = Vice-President, [[Bharatiya Janata Party]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1914|5|24|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Mundanad House, [[Trivandrum]], [[Travancore State]], [[British Raj]] (present-day [[Kerala]], India)
| death_date = {{death date and age|2022|01|05|1914|05|24|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Thiruvananthapuram]], [[Kerala]], India
| nationality = Indian
| party = [[Indian National Congress]] (formerly)<br />[[Bharatiya Janata Party]] (later)
| relations = [[Thachudaya Kaimal]] [[Maharaja of Travancore]]
| occupation = Lawyer
| spouse = Rajamma Pillai
| alma_mater = [[Law College]], [[Trivandrum]]
}}

[[M. R. Ry.]] '''Kumar Aiyappan Pillai ''' (24 May 1914 – 5 January 2022) was an Indian lawyer, politician and writer.<ref>Interview to Bar & Bench Journal. Accessed at : https://barandbench.com/gandhiji-told-work-people-meet-102-year-old-lawyer-k-ayyappan-pillai/</ref><ref>Article in Outlook Magazine India Accessed at : https://www.outlookindia.com/magazine/story/secrets-behind-the-evening-glow/299032</ref>

== Early life and education==
The son of Kumara Pillai of [[Nagercoil]], Aiyappan Pillai was born in the [[princely state]] of [[Travancore]] to an aristocratic family related to the ruling dynasty of Travancore. His eldest uncle was the [[Thachudaya Kaimal]] a ruling chief and a religious dignitary of Kerala residing at the [[Koodalmanikyam Temple]].
<ref>Last Days of Monarchy in Travancore, SUTIC, Trivandrum 2013 </ref>

He was educated privately and graduated from the Law College, Trivandrum.

==Career==
Following a meeting with [[Mahatma Gandhi]],<ref>Interview to Bar & Bench Journal. Accessed at : https://barandbench.com/gandhiji-told-work-people-meet-102-year-old-lawyer-k-ayyappan-pillai/</ref> he chose to give up a stately sinecure and agitate for responsible government. He participated in the [[Quit India Movement]].<ref name="indiatimes">{{cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/videos/city/kochi/on-75th-anniversary-of-quit-india-movement-children-meet-103-year-old-freedom-fighter/videoshow/60049055.cms|title=On 75th anniversary of Quit India Movement, children meet 103-year-old freedom fighter | City- Times of India Videos|website=timesofindia.indiatimes.com|access-date=12 April 2018}}</ref> Gandhi advised him to serve the people directly which prompted him to stand for elections in the newly formed legislature of Travancore representing Trivandrum as an [[Indian National Congress]] candidate.<ref>Interview to Bar & Bench Journal. Accessed at : https://barandbench.com/gandhiji-told-work-people-meet-102-year-old-lawyer-k-ayyappan-pillai/</ref>

As a lawyer and close-confidante of the Maharaja of Travancore, [[Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma]], when India attained Independence, he was asked by the Maharaja to carry on secret negotiations with Indian National Congress and the Government of Travancore in 1947.

In 1971, he was requested to be a figurehead for the newly created [[Bharatiya Janata Party]]. Thereafter, he remained behind the scenes in the region's politics, as Chairman at various times and as a vice-president of the [[Bharatiya Janata Party]].<ref>Challenging times and my life : memoirs by K. Aiyappan Pillai. British Library Records Asia, Pacific & Africa YP.2014.a.4814 K. Aiyappan Pillai, 1914-, Thiruvananthapuram : Sree Uthradom Thirunal Institute of Culture, 2012.</ref>

==Later life and death==
Aiyappan Pillai [[centenarian|turned 100]] in May 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/thiruvananthapuram/2014/may/24/Man-Who-Walked-with-History-for-100-Years-616738.html|title=Man Who Walked with History for 100 Years|work=[[The Times of India]]|author=Staff|date=24 May 2014|access-date=13 August 2018}}</ref> In 2020, he was noted as being the senior-most living member of the Bar in India.<ref>Challenging times and my life : memoirs by K. Aiyappan Pillai. British Library Records Asia, Pacific & Africa YP.2014.a.4814 K. Aiyappan Pillai, 1914-, Thiruvananthapuram : Sree Uthradom Thirunal Institute of Culture, 2012.</ref><ref>Article in The Hindu newspaper about "Senior Advocated (being) Honoured" Accessed at: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-kerala/23-senior-advocates-honoured/article3144661.ecein</ref> He died of heart disease in Thiruvananthapuram on 5 January 2022, at the age of 107.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Centenarian freedom fighter Ayyappan Pillai no more|work=[[Press Trust of India]]|url=http://www.ptinews.com/news/13021988_Centenarian-freedom-fighter-Ayyappan-Pillai-no-more.html}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title=Freedom fighter K Ayyappan Pillai passes away at 107|url=https://english.mathrubhumi.com/news/kerala/freedom-fighter-k-ayyappan-pillai-passes-away-at-107-kerala-bjp-leader-1.6332183|access-date=5 January 2022|work=Mathrubhumi|language=en}}</ref>

==Books published==
* ''Challenging Times and my life: Memoirs of Aiyappan Pillai''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillai, Aiyappan}}
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:2022 deaths]]
[[Category:Indian centenarians]]
[[Category:Bharatiya Janata Party politicians]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians]]
[[Category:Men centenarians]]
[[Category:People from Kanyakumari district]]
[[Category:Rajya Sabha members from Kerala]]
[[Category:Indian nobility]]
[[Category:Deaths from heart disease]]

Aiyappan Pillai - Revision history

->20SS00 at 16:50, 6 January 2022