Arya Rajendran, 21, a sophomore math undergraduate, could be the youngest mayor in the country. The daughter of an electrician, whose entire family is CPM supporters, Arya will be appointed by the party as head of the Thiruvananthapuram City Corporation, after the LDF won 51 of its 100 districts in recent polls.
Arya, who studies at All Saints College for Women, won in the Mudavanmukal neighborhood. “Ours is a partisan family,” says Father KM Rajendran, explaining Arya’s interest in politics. Rajendran, his wife Sreelatha, an LIC agent, and their son Aravind, who was now engaged in automotive engineering and works in the Middle East, are also members of CPM.
The 21-year-old first became associated with the party when she joined its Baalasangham children’s collective already in Class 5. “Later, I became a district president and have been the head of state of Baalasangham for the past two years. . Due to my active role in Baalasangham, I was brought to the Indian Student Federation (student wing of the CPM) and am part of their state committee, ”says Arya, attributing the CPM’s decision to elect her as mayor: a the announcement on Saturday, to this close old association.
Half of the seats in Kerala’s local bodies are reserved for women, while senior elected officials are set aside for women for alternate terms. With the last mayor being the popular leader VK Prasanth, it was the turn of a woman to occupy the position. The two women leaders that the CPM had projected as mayoral candidates lost the elections.
Despite being active in politics for years, Arya had to keep her academic life on the sidelines. Both her university and the school she studied at, Carmel Girls’ Higher Secondary School, are Church-run institutions that do not look favorably on campus politics. Arya hopes that she will not be able to attend classes regularly once she takes on her new assignment. “But all my teachers and friends are really helpful. I will also find a way to continue my studies, ”he says.
The family, who live in a small house in Thiruvananthapuram and pay rent of 6,000 rupees a month, never discouraged their participation in politics, including long trips around Kerala. “I have visited almost every district in the state. But my only trip outside of Kerala has been to Mumbai, arranged by my mother’s office. I don’t remember much when I was in Class 6 back then, ”Arya says. It was due to financial pressures from the family that his older brother emigrated for work, he adds.
At the top of Arya’s list of role models is Kerala Health Minister KK Shailaja “for the incredible work she has done” during the Covid pandemic. He also counts as inspiration Sugathakumari, a veteran Malayalam poet and activist who died this week, and prominent Malayalam writer KR Meera. Arya says she does not have a rigid stance against religion, despite her party ideology, she occasionally accompanies her mother to temples and visits church. “I believe in positive energy, which is what God is to me, but I am opposed to superstitious beliefs,” he says.
CPM Thiruvananthapuram’s top leader and minister, Kadakampally Surendran, says he has been seeing Arya since she was a child. “The youth and the new generation are the future of this country. They are clear about the need for transparent political systems, they have bigger dreams and vision. Arya has experience, she is very good. Their age is not a cause for concern, as we have many examples of young civil servants doing incredible work as district collectors, ”he says.
Legendary Malayalam writer MT Vasudevan Nair also welcomes the CPM’s decision. “It is not a party but I am happy for it,” he says.
Awaiting the formal call on Saturday, Arya says that only after this will she plan her priorities for Thiruvananthapuram. However, the most important thing on your agenda is waste management. “The last regime had done a lot and we have to do more.”
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