CREATING HISTORY Arya Rajendran

The Youngest Mayor in the Country

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Arya Rajendran, a second year student of B.Sc. Mathematics at the All Saints’ College, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, created history by becoming the youngest Mayor in the State of Kerala and possibly in the whole of India after Suman Koli (elected Mayor from Rajasthan’s Bharatpur in 2009). Ms Rajendran was sworn in as the Mayor of the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation on 24 December 2020, after she was elected a Corporator from the Mudavanmughal ward of the city.

Her father, Mr Rajendran, is an electrician, by profession, and her mother, Sreelatha, an insurance agent. Her brother, Aaravind, is an automobile engineer. Following her parents’ footsteps, Arya embarked on her political career very early in life. She joined Balasangam, the world’s largest children’s organization, affiliated to the Communist Party of India (CPM) as a child activist when she was in the fifth standard. She is now the state president of Balasangam.

After she joined All Saints’ College in 2019 as an undergraduate student, Arya became a member of the Students Federation of India (SFI), the students’ wing of the CPI-M.

Arya is a born leader and has always worked democratically with peers, encouraging other students and listening attentively to the opinions of others. Arya is also a conscientious, hard-working and selfmotivated student. She has always displayed admirable self-discipline and is considered a valued member of the class by her teachers and companions.

The Mayor-student Arya Rajendran spoke to The Teenager Today in an exclusive interview given to the magazine, within a few days of her taking over as the Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. She spoke extensively to the magazine’s representative about her early days as a child activist as a member