Rangarajan Kumaramangalam

Rangarajan Kumaramangalam Biography

Rangarajan Kumaramangalam was a prominent politician of the Indian National Congress who later joined Bharatiya Janatha Party. He belonged to the prestigious zamindar family of Kumaramangalam, who has many influential figures in Indian politics. He was the son of Mohan Kumaramangalam, a famous politician and cabinet minister from Tamil Nadu, often mentioned as communist theorist. His grandfather P. Subbarayan was a noted politician, freedom fighter and diplomat who has served as the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency. His grandmother, Radhabai Subbarayan was a politician, women's rights activist and social reformer. His uncle Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam was the 7th Chief of Staff of the Indian Army who served during the period 1967–1970 and has been honoured with Padma Vibhushan by Indian government in 1970 for his military service. His sister Lalitha Kumaramangalam is a member of national executive of Bharatiya Janata Party. His mother, Kalyani Mukherjee belonged to a political family of Bengal.

Rangarajan was born on May 12, 1952 in a family of Zamindars of Thiruchengode. Ranga was deeply involved in student politics since his school and college life. He is well known as one of the founding members and the first president of the National Students Union of India (NSUI). By 1973, he had also been elected a member of the All India Congress Committee. In 1977 he completed graduation from Delhi University and moved back to Chennai. He contested and won the 1984 elections from Salem Lok Sabha constituency, as asked by Rajiv Gandhi.

He became Minister of State for Law, Justice and Company Affairs in July 1991 in Rao’s cabinet. Though he stood with Rao and Congress government, he couldn’t support the corrupted party. In late 1993, Rangarajan resigned as Cabinet Minister and resigned from the party in 1995. Along with Arjun Singh, N.D. Tiwari, Sheila Dikshit and others he founded the Congress (T) which faced severe defeat in 1996 Parliament elections. In December 1997, Rangarajan joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and won from the Tiruchirapalli Lok Sabha constituency in 1998 and 1999. But he died the following year. He is always regarded as one of the most charismatic and brilliant leaders in post independent India and was admired by all political parties.

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Updated: February 13, 2014