Mohan Kumaramangalam

Surendra Mohan Kumaramangalam (; 1 November 1916 — 31 May 1973) was an Indian politician and communist theorist who was a member of the Communist Party of India, and later, the Indian National Congress. He also served as Advocate-General for Madras State from 1966 to 1967. Kumaramangalam was killed in the crash of Indian Airlines Flight 440 on May 31, 1973, at the age of 56.

Early life and education

Mohan Kumaramangalam was born in London to P. Subbarayan, then zamindar of Kumaramangalam in Thiruchengode Taluk, Namakkal district and later, Chief Minister of Madras Presidency and his wife, Radhabai Subbarayan on 1 November 1916. He was their third and youngest son, Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam and Gopal Kumaramangalam being elder to him. Mohan Kumaramangalam was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge,

Kumaramangalam was called to the bar by the Inner Temple. He returned to India in 1939 Kumaramangalam was later released. During the Second World War Kumaramangalam served as the editor of the communist magazine, People's War, which on the conclusion of hostilities he renamed as People's Age.

Post-independence politics

In the days following India's independence Madras Presidency was gripped by a peasant rebellion, which compelled the provincial government to launch a crackdown on communists. Kumaramangalam was arrested along with other communist leaders and released after the rebellion had subsided. Kumaramangalam favoured friendly relations with the Soviet Union and established the Indo-Soviet Cultural Society. He was the driving force behind Indira Gandhi's decision in 1973, to appoint Ajit Nath Ray as the Chief Justice of India superseding three senior judges of the Supreme Court of India - J. M. Shelat, A.N Grover and K. S. Hegde.

Personal life

Mohan Kumaramangalam married Kalyani Mukerjee, niece of Bengali politician Ajoy Mukherjee in 1943. Ajoy Mukherjee, later, served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal. The couple had a son, Rangarajan Kumaramangalam and two daughters. Rangarajan Kumaramangalam was a member of the Indian National Congress and later, the Bharatiya Janata Party and served as a minister in the Narasimha Rao and Atal Behari Vajpayee governments.

Another grandson of Mohan Kumaramanglam is Rangarajan Mohan Kumaramangalam, who has joined politics after working as an entrepreneur and for technology companies. He unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha polls 2014 from Salem on a Congress ticket. He is the working president of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee.

Death

Kumaramangalam was killed in the crash of Indian Airlines Flight 440 on May 31, 1973, at the age of 56.

Works

Mohan Kumaramangalam was a prominent communist theorist and authored a number of books and pamphlets. Some of his works include:

at Google Books