24 Facts About Pon Radhakrishnan

Pon Radhakrishnan was born on 1 March 1952 and is an Indian politician representing the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Pon Radhakrishnan was the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Shipping between May 2014 and May 2019.

Pon Radhakrishnan has served as the Minister of State for Youth affairs and Minister of State in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation in Third Vajpayee Ministry.

Pon Radhakrishnan was elected to Lok Sabha from Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu in 2014.

Pon Radhakrishnan lost in the recent 2019,2021 and 2024 parliamentary elections.

Radhakrishnan was born on March 1,1952, in Alanthangarai village, Kanyakumari district to his father Ponnaya Ayyappan and mother Thangakani into a traditional Congress family, Radhakrishnan holds a BL Degree from Government Law College, Chennai.

In 1981, Pon Radhakrishnan joined a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and later became its secretary.

Pon Radhakrishnan joined the Hindu Munnani which was started in 1980, began to grow slowly in the Kanyakumari district.

Pon Radhakrishnan traveled with its founder Rama Gopalan throughout Tamil Nadu for about a year as his assistant.

Pon Radhakrishnan worked as a co-organizer of the Hindu Munnani in the state.

Pon Radhakrishnan contested the Lok Sabha elections in Nagercoil for the first time in the 1991 elections.

Pon Radhakrishnan was defeated by a CPI candidate in the Nagercoil Lok Sabha constituency in 2004, and in 2009, he was beaten by a DMK candidate in Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha constituency.

Pon Radhakrishnan was president of Tamil Nadu state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party, resigning the position when he became a Minister of State in the Narendra Modi-led government.

Pon Radhakrishnan had won in a Lok Sabha seat in the 2014 Indian general election, from Kanyakumari constituency by a margin of 1,28,662 votes.

In September 2019, Pon Radhakrishnan created a controversy after calling Tamil people as 'ungrateful'.

Pon Radhakrishnan explained that the Tamil people failed to celebrate Modi after he praised the Tamil language.

Pon Radhakrishnan participated in a BJP rally in support of Citizenship Act, 2019 in Nagercoil in March 2020 where he spoke of chasing away Christian priests from the district.

Fishermen in Kanniyakumari claimed that around 40,000 - 45,000 fishermen votes in the 48 coastal hamlets in Kanyakumari Lok Sabha constituency was deliberately removed from the electoral-list out of fear that the fishermen would vote against the lone BJP Union minister, Pon Radhakrishnan, contesting in the constituency during the 2019 Lok sabha elections.

Pon Radhakrishnan lost the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 by a margin of 2.59 lakh votes to H Vasanthakumar from Indian National Congress.

Pon Radhakrishnan again contested in 2024 election and lost again.

Pon Radhakrishnan claimed it "corrupts the purity of our land and honor of women" and said it is not a good thing.

Pon Radhakrishnan questioned the fairness of "if someone made such an allegation about an incident when playing together in Class 5" and asked whether it would be appropriate for men to begin levelling similar allegations against women.

Pon Radhakrishnan said that could not learn Sanskrit for various reasons and that he was ashamed of it.

Pon Radhakrishnan urged parents to let their children to learn Sanskrit.