Aiyappan Pillai


M. R. Ry. Kumar Aiyappan Pillai is an Indian lawyer, politician, former member of legislative council and a writer. He turned 100 in May 2014. As of 2018, he is the senior-most living member of the Bar in India.

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

Career

Aiyappan Pillai was born into the Mundanad family of Kayamkulam as the nephew of the Thachudaya Kaimal, but following a meeting with Mahatma Gandhi, chose to give up a stately sinecure and agitate for responsible government. He participated in the Quit India Movement 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.
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 has remained behind the scenes in the region's politics, as Chairman at various times and as a vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party since 1971.

Books published