THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The wedding invitation of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has gone viral on social media on the 42nd anniversary of the occasion. The invitation printed by late Chadayan Govindan, then CPM Kannur district secretary on August 1, 1979, seeks the blessings of people on the auspicious occasion of the marriage of Pinarayi Vijayan and Kumari Kamala, daughter of Aandi Master, Thaikandiyil, at Town Hall, Thalasserry, on September 2, 1979.
Vijayan tied the knot with Kamala in the presence of CPM stalwarts like E M S Namboodiripad and E K Nayanar when he was the Koothuparamba MLA and a member of the Kannur district secretariat. It was a simple function and the guests were then served tea and biscuits. Vijayan later became the CPM state secretary in 1998 following the death of the incumbent Chadayan Govindan who had printed the invitation.
The Chief Minister shared a photo with his wife Kamala on Facebook on their wedding anniversary on Thursday, which was greeted with thousands of messages from people cutting across political lines. Vijayan met Kamala first in 1978 when her father, Aandi Master, who was a primary school teacher, and homemaker mother Janaki, brought her the marriage proposal while she was studying for BEd. Kamala had also worked in the KSF, the precursor to the Students’ Federation of India.
They have two children T Veena and Vivek Kiran. Recently, Veena married CPM youth wing leader PA Muhammad Riyas who is the Minister for Public Works Department and Tourism in the second Pinarayi Cabinet.