Mullappally Ramachandran Explained

Mullappally Ramachandran
Office:	President, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee
Predecessor:	M. M. Hassan
Successor:	K. Sudhakaran
Office1:	Minister of State for Home Affairs
Term Start1:	28 May 2009
Term End1:	26 May 2014 Served along with R. P. N. Singh (2012-14)
Primeminister1:	Manmohan Singh
Minister1:	P. Chidambaram (2009-12) Sushilkumar Shinde (2012-14)
Predecessor1:	Sriprakash Jaiswal
Successor1:	Kiren Rijiju
Office2:	Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
Constituency2:	Vatakara
Predecessor2:	P. Satheedevi
Successor2:	K. Muraleedharan
Constituency3:	Kannur
Predecessor3:	K. Kunhambu
Successor3:	A. P. Abdullakutty
Birth Date:	7 November 1944
Birth Place:	Kozhikode, Madras Presidency, British India (present day Kerala, India)
Party:	Indian National Congress
Spouse:	Usha Ramachandran

Mullappally Ramachandran (born 7 November 1944) is an Indian politician and former president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC). He is a member of the Indian National Congress, and the son of Congress leader Mullappally Gopalan.

Mullappally Ramachandran has returned five times consecutively to the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th Lok Sabha from Kannur constituency, a strong fortress of rival party CPI(M). From 2009 to 2019, he was the Member of Parliament for Vatakara constituency. In the 15th Lok Sabha, he was Minister of State for Home Affairs, Govt. of India.^[1]

Positions held

• 1969-70: Chairman, Congress Forum for Socialist Action
• 1970-71: President, Youth Congress, Calicut district
• 1977-82: President, Kerala Pradesh Youth Congress
• 1984-89: Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Human Resource Development
• 1984-: General-Secretary, Pradesh Congress Committee
• 1987-88: Member, Committee on Subordinate Legislation
• 1987-89: Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of External Affairs
• 1987-90 :Member, Rules Committee
• 1988-95: Joint-Secretary, All India Congress Committee (Indira) [A.I.C.C.(I)]
• 1990-91: Member, Committee on Estimates
• Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Commerce; and Ministry of Tourism
• 1991-93: Union Minister of State, Agriculture and Cooperation
• 1993-96: Member, Committee on Industry
• Member, Central Advisory Committee on Light Houses
• Member, Select Committee on Transplantation of Human Organs Bill, 1993
• Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
• 1996-97: Member, Committee on Commerce
• Member, Joint Committee on Salaries and Allowances Of Members of Parliament
• Member, Sub-Committee on Agricultural Exports
• Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Railways
• 1998-99: Member, Committee on Urban and Rural Development and Convenor of its Sub-Committee-I on Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment; and Sub-Committee on Action Taken
• Member, Committee to review the rate of dividend payable by the Railway Undertakings
• Member, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Civil Aviation
• Member, Railway Convention Committee
• Member, South Zone Railway Advisory Committee
• 2000: General Secretary, KPCC
• 2005: Vice President, KPCC
• 2009-2014: Minister of State (Home)
• 2015: Chairman, Indian National Congress Central Election Authority
• 2018-2021: President, KPCC

Controversy

In June 2020, he made some controversial comments against the health minister K.K Shailaja, calling her as Covid Rani (Covid Queen).^[2] In November 2020, he entered into controversy again as he stated "women with self respect will die if she is raped, or else try not to be sexually assaulted again".^[3] Later, he claimed that his remarks on rape survivors are being 'portrayed as anti-women by others.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Member of Parliament (16th Lok Sabha) Mullappally Ramachandran. 2014-10-24. Member of Parliament (16th Lok Sabha) Mullappally Ramachandran.
2. Web site: Mullappally defends himself, but Chennithala asks him to stop tirade. 2021-03-10. The New Indian Express. 21 June 2020 .
3. Web site: 2020-11-01. 'Woman with self-respect will die if raped': Congress leader Mullappally at it again. 2021-03-10. The News Minute. en.
4. P. S. Gopikrishnan Unnithan . November 1, 2020 . Shocker: Self-respecting women will die if raped, says Kerala Congress chief, later clarifies. 2021-03-10. India Today. en.