Coimbatore had been famous for cotton textiles, agricultural implements and cornelian jewelry since the Sangam Era. A huge number of craftsmen, farmers, spinners and weavers eked out a living happily. The European rule had shattered their life. Traditional spinners, weavers and craftsmen lost their opportunities because of the deindustrialization of not just Coimbatore but the country as a whole.
Coimbatore had been famous for cotton textiles, agricultural implements and cornelian jewelry since the Sangam Era. A huge number of craftsmen, farmers, spinners and weavers eked out a living happily. The European rule had shattered their life. Traditional spinners, weavers and craftsmen lost their opportunities because of the deindustrialization of not just Coimbatore but the country as a whole. India had almost a 19% share in international commerce in the year 1800 and thanks to exploitation, it shrunk to less than 2% by the year 1900.
The country became a supplier of raw materials like cotton and was forced to buy imported textiles. The huge cotton diversity had been annihilated and farmers were forced to produce the imported variety cotton meant for the English mills. Slowly food crops were displaced by cotton kind of crops and people suffered due to taxation and the stringent purchasing modes of the English.
The country became poor, illiterate and began to move towards conflicts because of the ' divide and rule ' policy of the colonial masters. The diversity of fibre, weaving and rural incomes were destroyed by the English in the mos selfish manner. Lancashire cloth had become the mainstay. Eventually the cotton textile town came to known as the ' Manchester of South India ' !
The country had to wake up and several movements picked up because of these issues that had made people suffer. The freedom movement under the Congress, the communist party movement tried their part in the interest of the country and its people. People belonging to the complete cross section of the society joined these movements who had become a force to reckon with during the course of time. At times, members of the same family were found in such movements which took pride in addressing different ends of the spectrum. The family of Dr.P.Subbarayan was among the popular and influential families who were found in all these movements. He had been the Premier of the Madras Presidency those days.
Parvathi Krishnan was born to Dr.P.Subbarayan and Radhabai in the year 1919 . She had received her education from Badminton School, Bristol and St.Hughes College, Oxford. It was here that she joined the secret Communist movement. Friendship with her future husband N.K.Krishnan began in the United Kingdom and she married him in the year 1942. Both of them were for the cause of the people from the very beginning. Parvathi Krishnan led a simple life from the start due to the influence of her mother Radhabai.
Paramasivan Subbarayan ( 1889 - 1962 ) belonged to a family of Zamindars. He was an advocate from the year 1918. His wife Kailash Radhabai Kumud was a Mangalorean Brahmo of Brahmin lineage. Thus Parvathi Krishnan was the illustrious daughter of an illustrious father. Her siblings were also noteworthy - Mohan Kumaramangalam ( Union Minister ), General P.P.Kumaramangalam ( India's Chief of Army Staff ), Gopal Kumaramangalam ( headed a couple of important public sector companies ).
Parvathi Krishnan and N.K. Krishnan were blessed with Indira. The veteran communist and her husband were Members of the Parliament. She began her electoral debut by contesting in Coimbatore which had become vacant due to the demise of T.A.Ramalingam Chettiar. However she lost the contest to N.M.Lingam of the Congress. She was made a Rajya Sabha member in the year 1954 and continued till 1957. Subsequently she won the Lok Sabha elections from Coimbatore in 1957. P.R.Ramakrishnan of the Congress defeated her in 1962. She lost to Era.Mohan at Coimbatore in 1977 and M.Thambidurai ( Dharmapuri ) in the year 1984. Parvathi Krishnan had successfully contested in the 1977 elections and the 1974 by election too. Thus she had spend a considerable time in the Parliament in Delhi in the interest of her constituents.
The veteran leader had seen a number of freedom fighters from diverse walks of life at her home and she had been disillusioned on seeing how they spoke something in public and stated differently in private. Her parents had inculcated frugality in her. She had been taught to do her own bed and had been gifted just two pattu pavadais per year. The gifts from her father were good books all the time.
Parvathi Krishnan and her husband had stayed in a commune and he had been a very supportive person all through. He had washed clothes and helped out in the kitchen. Her husband was the leader for the textile workers union which boasted of a strength of 16000.
Parvathi Krishnan had felt strongly about the reservation for women in the legislatures. In an interview to The Hindu she had stated that appointing someone in a post merely because its a woman was a wrong practice. Her father Dr. P. Subbarayan had wanted the family to be united and they used to discuss issues at home but never about their respective parties. Once her father had sent her husband to jail. The grand lady liked Coimbatore because it was relatively modern when compared to the rest of Tamilnadu and the cleanest too. She wanted a single trade union to address the issues of the workers of an industry.
The Communist Party of India ideologue lived in R.S.Puram and she simply loved flowers and good food. She was against extravagant weddings, but she attended marriages. Parvathi Krishnan used the bus or walked around the city all by herself during her active years. She felt that old people should give way for a younger generation in politics and relegate themselves to an advisory position.
While talking to Subha J Rao and M. Allirajan of The Hindu about 15 years ago, she had told them that the political discourse is the parliament was far more decent during her days. She had made Prime Minister Morarji Desai apologise to her in the Parliament for having made remarks against women. She really loved elai sappadu, jalebis, rasam and vathakuzambhu.
Parvathi Krishnan used to welcome everyone home even when she was over 90 years of age. It was her family background and diversity that had helped her see things in a different manner. She had been felicitated by the AITUC for having completed 6 decades in public life.
The lady wanted a national minimum wage. On privatization she had felt that the unions should be united. She felt that political parties were deriving mileage out of it and did not approach it as a single national matter. Regionalism was entering the situation and was also influencing the thought process.
Parvathi Krishnan had been a friendly person and truly believed in her ideology. She had wanted to provide solutions based on the same. The interesting parliamentarian from Coimbatore had made her mark.