P Kumaran, the first Sangh Pracharak from Kerala who completed his Second Year Sangh Shiksha Varg with Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, passed away at the age of 91, on March 07, 2017
In 1942, Malabar was part of the Madras Presidency. And it was that year when Mananiya Dattopant Thengadi ji, came to Calicut to start the Sangh work. P Kumaran was at that time staying near the Sri Krishna Temple, Chalappuram, which was the first working centre of Thengadi ji in Calicut and where he started the first Sangh Shakha. So Kumaran came into contact, along with many others like P Madhavan, TN Marthanda Varma, TN Bharatan, R Venugopal (who later became the working – president of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh), etc. with Thengadi ji and became a Swayamsevak.
The very same year, along with Ambali Karunakaran of Calicut and Mannar Gopalan Nair of Thiruvanandapuram, accompanied by Thengadi ji, he went to Nagpur for the first year Sangha Shiksha Varg. Because of the extremely hot climate in Nagpur, Mannar Gopalan Nair and Ambali Karunakaran had to return without completing the training. Hence, Kumaran became eligible for the qualification as the first Swayamsevak from Kerala to complete the first year Sangh Shiksha Varg training. In the next two years, he completed his second and third year training respectively and became a Sangh Pracharak. Hence, he was the first Keralite Sangh Pracharak. Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji was his co-trainee during his Second Sangh Shiksha Varg. The very next year, in 1946, TN Bharatan of Nilambur Palace and P Madhavan of Calicut, also became Pracharaks.
As a Pracharak, Kumaran was sent to Thrissur for the Sangh work. And with Thrissur as his centre, he spread the Sangh work at many places. In 1947, he retired from Pracharakship and joined the Fire Force Service as an employee. When the Sangh was banned consequent to Gandhiji’s murder, in view of the call given by the Sangh, Kumaran took part in the Sathyagra held in Calicut on December 12, 1948, along with Mananiya Ranga Hariji (former Akhil Bharatiya Boudhik Shikshan Pramukh) and the above said R Venugopal and TN MarthandaVarma. By the time he was released from the jail in 1949, he had lost his job. So, through the Public Service Commission he joined the Employees State Insurance Corporation as a clerk, where he worked for the next thirty-seven years of his life.
Immediately after Sangh was banned by Prime Mister Smt. Indira Gandhi in June 1975, it was Shri Kumaran’s house to which DB Thengadi ji came, incognito, as the underground messenger of Central leadership of the RSS, to give the very first instruction to the Sangh workers of Kerala to carry forward the work in the changed atmosphere.
In 1989, he retired from the ESI Corporation as the Assistant Director. Then he was made the Sanghchalak of Calicut Mahanagar.
Kumaran, who died at the ripe age of 91, on March 07, 2017, is survived by his two daughters, Smt. Varsha and Smt. Padma, both of whom are married. Smt Sumathi Deekshit, sister of Ma. Keshav Rao Deekshit, a senior Pracharak in Bengal, was his wife, who passed away in January 1995.
—U Gopal Maller
