V. k. krishna menon born

Why in news?

Biography of V.K. Krishna Menon written by Member of Parliament Jairam Ramesh released recently.

Who is V.K. Krishna Menon?

• V.K. Krishna Menon was an Indian nationalist, diplomat, and politician, described by some as the second most powerful man in India, after his ally, the 1st Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru.
• Noted for his eloquence, brilliance, and forceful, highly abrasive personality, Menon inspired widespread adulation and fervent detraction in both India and the West.
• He was an unapologetic champion of India in the face of Western imperialism, who famously "taught the white man his place".
• Decades after his death, Menon remains an enigmatic and controversial figure.

What are the great contributions of V.K. Krishna Menon?

• As a young man, Menon led the overseas wing of the Indian independence movement, launching the India League in London.
• He aggressively campaigning within the United Kingdom to win public support for Indian independence, and
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  VK Krishna Menon: The Man Behind the Mystique

  IN THIS BIOGRAPHY of VK Krishna Menon, Jairam Ramesh rightly points out the irony that though Kerala considers Menon a demigod, he was against the idea of redrawing the state on a linguistic basis. Within the state, he is always forgiven for his sins. People did so even when he was alive. The author explains twice in the book that Menon, Nehru’s sounding board and cabinet colleague, went with the flow and backed then Congress president Indira Gandhi’s bid to get the first communist government of unified Kerala dismissed using Article 356 of the Constitution despite Prime Minister Pandit Nehru’s initial reluctance.

  Paradoxically, one of the most memorable photographs of the 1971 Lok Sabha elections is the one from Thiruvananthapuram that has Marxist stalwarts AK Gopalan and EMS Namboodiripad standing alongside Menon, flashing winning smiles. Menon bucked a pro-Congress wave and won as an independent candidate that year with the support of those who were at the receiving end of his diabolical stance as a high-profile Congress leader an

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  Krishna Menon

  V. K. Krishna Menon was an activist, councillor, diplomat, lawyer and editor. Born in Calicut, south India, he attended the Native High School there before studying for a BA at Presidency College, Madras, and attending Madras Law College. Encouraged by Annie Besant, he travelled to England in 1924, originally to take up a job at a Theosophists' school in Letchworth. In England, he continued studying law, and was called to the Bar in 1934. He also studied at the London School of Economics under Harold Laski, gaining a BSc and an MSc in politics as well as a teaching diploma.

  Menon joined the Commonwealth of India League on his arrival in England, becoming joint secretary in 1928 and transforming the organization into the India League, with Indian self-rule as its stated goal. For the next two decades, he campaigned tirelessly for the India League alongside key British political figures such as Bertrand Russell, Harold Laski, Michael Foot and Fenner Brockway, as well as other Indians in Britain. Financing most of the activities himself, he held meetings, organized ev