Menon, Damodara

Damodara Menon (June 10, 1906, Kochi - November 1, 1980) - Indian Kerala politician, journalist and writer, participant in the struggle for the independence of India, an ally of Mahatma Gandhi .

Born into a poor family, his father died shortly after his birth ^[1] . Primary and secondary education in Paravur, but completed in Trivandrum , where his brother worked. In 1922 he received a certificate of maturity, in 1926 - a doctoral degree. After that, he went to Burma (which was then, like India, under British control and was part of British India), where he began working as a teacher in high school. Then he graduated from the university in Rangunskogm and went to the south of Burma, where he taught in high school, then worked until 1930 in major cities in the center and south of India, including Calcutta , Bihar , Sur, Bombay . At the same time he became interested in the idea of ​​independence of India and began to participate in the protest movement.

In 1930 he was first arrested by the British authorities, was imprisoned in Coimbatore . In 1932 he was again arrested for six months and kept in Alipore. After his release in 1933, he decided to take up journalism and at the same time get a law degree; realized both intentions, graduated from a college in Thiruvananthapuram with a bachelor of law degree (LLB) in 1935, became an editor in the newspaper സമദർശി (Samadarshi) in 1936, a year later became the editor of the newspaper മാതൃഭൂമി (Mathrubhumi), after what he worked in it for 14 years (with a break in the years 1942-1945), but in 1948 ceased to be the chief editor ^[2] . In 1940, he wrote a sharp political article on the so-called incident in Kirby (when a policeman died during the suppression of another anti-British protest). By 1942, he was already secretary of the Kerala Committee of Congress, living in Travancore and even being a member of the city parliament, and for his political and journalistic activities, which had a pronounced anti-British character, was again arrested in August. In custody until June 1945.

From 1945 to 1957, he was again secretary of the Kerala Congress Committee, while in 1955 he became First Secretary, and in 1957 was elected President of the Congress Committee in Kerala Pradesh (KPCC); in 1949 he was elected to the temporary parliament of India, in 1950 - to the provincial parliament, in 1952-1955 he was again a deputy. From 1960 to 1964, he held the post of Minister of Industry in two governments of the country ^[3] . He retired from the civil service only in June 1978, while in 1979 he became one of the founders and the first president of the Kerala Academy of Press. He wrote several books, including his autobiography.