Friday, January 12, 2007

VK Krishna Menon



V.K. Krishna Menon Former Defence Minister of India



Sri VK Krishn Menon was Born in 1896 at Panniankara In Kozhikode. His father was Sri Komath Krishna kurup and mother Smt Vengalil Lakshmikutty Amma. His father was a well known advocate in Thalassery bar. VK Krishnamenon’s pet name was “Appa”

VKKrishnamenon was a bright student and passed all examinations as the foremost winner. He completed his school education from Thalassery Municipal School and Kozhikode Native School and inter from from Samuthiri College. History was Krishnamenon’s favorite subject.

His graduation was at the Presidency College Madras. It may be recalled that Dr. S. Radhkrishnan was lecturer in philosophy at that college during that time. At the age of 19 while he was studying at Madras Presidency College the freedom struggle was in its infancy, there were reverberations in the Presidency College campus also.

It was 1915 and “The Home Rule movement” was gaining prominence there was widespread dissent in young minds against the ruling British. One day a red and green flag of the home rule system was found on the top of the college flag mast. Further enquiries revealed that it was none other than V. K. Krishna Menon who did it. This action was sufficient for him to get dismissed from the college. But Sri M.A.Kandeth the economics professor came for his rescue.




He did not join the law college as per the wish of his father. Krishnamenons’s association with Dr. Arundale and his cultural activities ended in Krishnamenon reaching at London for higher studies. There Krishnamenon had close contact with Mr. Harold Lasky and that was used to leverage to speed up decision making of the British Parliament about granting independence to India.

There was difference of opinion in the Indian freedom movement. The Nehru group stood for a socialistic set up which had the support of Krishnamenon. Both of them became good friends. This friendship helped Krishnamenon in reaching greater heights as well as it did damage to VK.Krishnamenon’s carrier as opponents of Nehru were engaged in a proxy war and attacked Krishnamenon as an indirect way to hurt Nehru.

Indian High Commissioner in London - 1947 to 1952

When India became independent. Krishnamenon’s associations with the intelligentsias of Britain proved very helpful to India when he was posted as Indian High Commissioner in Britain. India got a very good advocate there to settle issues in its favor.

Milestones in Career

As minister without portfolio 1956-57

A defense minister 1957-62

Resigns post associated with Chinese agression. (in that war India had to face defeat and Krishnamenon was made a scapegoat for the failure. It is a known fact that as a defense minister he did a lot to improve the compatibility of Indian forces).

1962 wins Lok Sabha election from North Mumbai (this victory was with a majority of more than two lakh (two hundred thousands)

1969 wins from Midnapore (with the sopport of the left)

1971 wins from Thiruvananthapuram (with support of the left)

VK Krishnamenon breathed his last on October 6-1974at G.C.Pant Hospital New Delhi.



8 comments:

mathew said...

wow..never knew so much much about VK..nice info..infact i havent had seen a photo of his either..just heard his name in some textbooks..

Maddy said...

hi sasi, thanks for ur comment. I have since that article of mine done much reading on VKKN, a book by his niece Janaki Ram and another by VK Madhavan Kutty. so much vilifcation has been systematically done by the North block on this great guy VKKM, due to his proximity to Nehru...

BTW he studied in Ganapathi school Chalappuram Calicut before Telichery, you have referred to a Native school???

Puju said...

Hello,
I am related to vk krishna menon throught his father. I actually did not know that much about him either. Thanks for the information.

Anonymous said...

Whenever I read about MrKrishnamenon,first thing that comes to my mind is the sacrifice he has made for the protection of the image of his friend Mr Nehru.

baijuas said...

Whenever I read about Mr Krishna menon the first thing that comes in to my mind is the sacrifices he has made to protect the image of his friend mR Nehru.

Unknown said...

Krishna Menon's brutally frank views on foreign policy always earned enemies than friends.The Americans could not stand his guts hated him most when he said " the world has yet to see Amrican guns shoot in one direction."
This was Menon's retort when the United States ambassador in the UN insisted that arms were given to Pakistan only to defend itself against a possible Soviet invasion.But actual practise,it was used only against India in Kashmir

Unknown said...

Krishna Menon's brutally frank views on foreign policy always earned enemies than friends.The Americans could not stand his guts hated him most when he said " the world has yet to see Amrican guns shoot in one direction."
This was Menon's retort when the United States ambassador in the UN insisted that arms were given to Pakistan only to defend itself against a possible Soviet invasion.But actual practise,it was used only against India in Kashmir

P.P. Balachandran said...

Narayan, the actual words of VKK were, "The world has only seen the American guns shoot in one direction." And he meant towards Kashmir.

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