K. K. Viswanathan
| Kambanthodath Vishwanathan | |
|---|---|
| Governor of Gujarat | |
|
In office 4 April 1973 – 13 August 1978 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born |
4 November 1914 Kerala, India |
| Died | August 17, 1992 (aged 77) |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Residence | Cochin, India |
Kambanthodath Kunhan Viswanathan or K. K. Viswanathan (4 November 1914 – 17 or 18 August 1992) was governor of the Indian state of Gujarat.
Shri K.K. Viswanathan was born in Mattancheri, Cochin on November 4, 1914. He was educated at St. Thomas College, Trichur, Maharaja's College, Earnakulam and Law College, Trivandrum. He took his bachelor's degree in Law from the Madras University in 1938 and started his legal practice in Cochin the same year. Simultaneously, he took up the management of a High School there and also evinced great interest in trade union work. Shri Viswanathan was one of the founders of a major Port-workers' Union by name the Cochin Thuramukha Thozhilali Union.
Afterwards, he joined the Cochin Praja Mandal, a constituent of the All India State People's Conference, which carried on in the princely State the policies and programmes of the Indian National Congress. In 1948, he was elected to the Cochin Legislative Council on the Praja Mandal ticket and, on the merger of Travancore and Cochin in 1949, he automatically became a Member of the integrated State Assembly.
Shri Viswanathan, however, resigned from the State Assembly in 1950 along with his other colleagues in response to a call from the Cochin Praja Mandal to that effect. He then turned his attention to welfare activities among the masses and soon came to be known as a leading social worker as also an astute Congressman in and around the Cochin region.
In 1957, when the EMS-led Communist Ministry was installed in office after the first general elections, after the formation of Kerala State in November 1956, Shri Viswanathan was also a Member of the Assembly and was eventually elected as Secretary of the Kerala Congress Legislative Party. He dedicated himself to the cause of the weaker sections with missionary zeal and ardently advocated several progressive measures and legislations for the amelioration of their condition. By then he had become one amongst front-ranking Parliamentarians in Kerala and gained recognition even of members of Opposition parties as an expert in land reforms. During this period he decided to give be up even his lucrative law practice in order to be able to devote his full-time and care to the party work.
Shri Viswanathan was returned to the State Assembly with a huge margin of votes when fresh elections were held in 1959 after the exit of the Communist Ministry headed by Shri E.M.S. Namboodiripad as a result of the liberation struggle launched by the people against it. He lent his powerful support and guidance first to the Coalition Government and later to the Congress Ministry in bringing about various land reform measures in the State.
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