Chetpet Ramaswami Iyer Pattabhiraman (b. November 11, 1906 - d. June 19, 2001) was an Indian lawyer, politician and statesman from the Indian National Congress

Indian National Congress

The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...

. He was the eldest son of Indian statesman C. P. Ramaswami Iyer. He served as a Member of Indian Parliament from Kumbakonam from 1957 to 1967 and as a Union Minister from 1966 to 1967.

Early life and education

Pattabhiraman was born on November 11, 1906 to C. P. Ramaswami Iyer and his wife Seethamma. As Pattabhiraman was born after a Naga Prathistha yagna or a sacrifice to the Hindu god Nāga

Naga

Naga or NAGA may refer to:* Nāga, a group of serpent deities in Hindu and Buddhist mythology.-People:* Nayan / Nayar/Nair people of Kerala Society* Naga people, a diverse ethnic identity in Northeast India...

 by Seethamma who had earlier suffered two miscarriages, Pattabhiraman was initially named Nagaraj.

Pattabhiraman had his schooling from the P. S. Higher Secondary School, Mylapore

Mylapore

Mylapore is a cultural hub and neighborhood in the southern part of the city of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu, India. Earlier, Mylapore used to be called Vedapuri....

, Madras and graduated from Presidency College, Madras. He did his LL. B at the London School of Economics and Political Science and qualified for the bar from the Middle Temple in 1932. Pattabhiraman practised as an advocate after his graduation and in 1938, became an advocate of the Federal Court, Delhi, now the Superme Court of India.

Politics

Pattabhiraman was a member of the Indian National Congress from his early days. He participated in the boycott of the Simon Commission

Simon Commission

The Indian Statutory Commission was a group of seven British Members of Parliament that had been dispatched to India in 1927 to study constitutional reform in Britain's most important colonial dependency. It was commonly referred to as the Simon Commission after its chairman, Sir John Simon...

 and the activities of the India League. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1957 and 1962 from Kumbakonam. In May 1962, Pattabhiraman was appointed Deputy Minister for Labour, Employment and Planning by the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...

 and served as the Deputy Minister for Information and Broadcasting from June 15, 1964 to January 24, 1966. He also served as a Minister for Law and Company Affairs from January 25, 1966 till his resignation in 1967. Pattabhiraman lost the 1967 elections from Kumbakonam and retired from politics.

Sports

Pattabhiraman was an excellent sportsman and a patron of sporting championships. He established the Mylapore Recreation Club and along with P. Subbarayan

P. Subbarayan

Paramasiva Subbarayan was an Indian politician, freedom fighter and diplomat and was the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency, India's ambassador to Indonesia and Union Minister of Transport and Communications in Jawaharlal Nehru's government. He is the father of General P. P...

, founded the Madras Cricket Association.

Family

Pattabhiraman's father, Sir C. P. Ramaswami Iyer was one of India's front ranking statesman and at the time of his birth, the lawyer with the highest income in India. On January 26, 1925, Pattabhiraman married Saraswathi, the daughter of Captain Dr. P. Krishnaswami, Principal of Stanley College, Madras and niece of Pennathur Subramania Iyer, founder of P. S. High School. The couple had four daughters - Shakunthala, Seetha, Lakshmi and Padmini.