- published: 19 Jun 2016
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Pinarayi Vijayan (Malayalam: പിണറായി വിജയൻ) is a politician and a former minister of Kerala, South India. He is currently a politburo member and the state secretary of Kerala State Committee of Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)).
He was born on 21 March 1944 in a poor family in Pinarayi in Kannur district. He is married to Kamala and has two children, Veena & Vivek.
Pinarayi Vijayan entered politics through student union activities and eventually joined the Communist Party in 1964. He was president and secretary of the Kerala Student's Federation (KSF) and also served as the president of Kerala State Youth Federation (KSYF). During that period, when communists in Kerala were organising the political activities from different hide-outs, Pinarayi Vijayan was imprisoned for one and half years .Later he was elected the president of the Kerala state co-operative bank. And during emergency he was arrested and tortured by police. He got elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1970. He was re-elected in 1977, 1991 and 1996. He was the Minister for Electric power and Co-operatives in the E.K. Nayanar ministry from 1996 to 1998. In 1998 he became CPI(M) state secretary. He was elected to the politburo of CPI(M) in 2002.