Q. Who was the first Malayali woman to become the chief minister of a state?

A
Annachandi
B
Janaki Ramachandran
C
R Sreelekha
D
Fathima beevi
Solution:

Janaki Ramachandran commonly known as V. N. Janaki was a Tamil actress and politician. She was the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for 23 days from 7 January 1988 to the 30th of same month, when her cabinet and state assembly were collectively dissolved by the central government for law and order failure.

Janaki was born in the town of Vaikom in Kottayam district of Travancore Princely state into a family with ties to both Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Her father, Rajagopal Iyer, was a Tamil Brahmin of high caste hailing from Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu and was the brother of Papanasam Sivan, the celebrated musician and composer. Her mother, Narayani Amma, belonged to Vaikom and was of a Keralite matrilineal caste. The relationship between Janaki’s parents was intercaste and confirmed to the Sambandam tradition widely accepted at that time in Kerala society. This being the case, Janaki belonged to the family and caste of her mother, not of her father, a fact reflected in the fact that she was known only by her mother’s name as “Vaikom Narayaniamma Janaki” or “V.N. Janaki,” with no mention of her father or his surname. Janaki had a brother, P. Narayanan, who became an educationalist.

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