About this stamp
Leader of Travancore
India Post issued this ₹5 stamp on 23 May 2018 for C. Kesavan (1891–1969), freedom fighter, social reformer and Chief Minister of Travancore-Cochin. Born at Mayyanad in Quilon (Kollam), he studied at University College and the Law College, Trivandrum, and practised law at Kollam. He followed Sree Narayana Guru and Gandhi, and served as general secretary of the SNDP Yogam.
The Abstention Movement
His political career began in 1932 as leader of the Abstention (Nivarthana) Movement. After a famous speech at Kozhencherry in 1935 he was tried for sedition and imprisoned; he was a founder of the Travancore State Congress in 1938 and was jailed again for a year from 29 August 1942 for joining the Quit India Movement.
Minister and Chief Minister
Elected in 1948, he became Health and Forest Minister in the Pattom Thanu Pillai ministry, opening the Medical College in Trivandrum and passing a minimum wage law, and on 28 February 1951 he became Chief Minister of Travancore-Cochin. He launched Kaumudi, one of the first Malayalam dailies, and wrote the classic autobiography Jeevitha Samaram (Life’s Struggles). He died at Mayyanad on 7 July 1969.
On the Stamp
His portrait in white, with a large sepia sketch of his face behind. It was designed by Alka Sharma; 600,000 were printed by wet offset at the Security Printing Press, Hyderabad.
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