Krishnasamy Veeramani (born 2 December 1933 in Cuddalore) is an Indian politician. He is also the president of Dravidar Kazhagam.
Personal Veeramani was born in Cuddalore, South Arcot District, Tamil Nadu, his original name was Sarangapani. He had his primary education at Cuddalore and entered Annamalai University for higher education. He obtained his master's degree in economics in 1956. He received his Bachelor of Law degree from Madras University in 1960.
Public life K. Veeramani came into limelight when as a boy of just 10, he was allowed to address the gathering in the Justice Party Salem conference in 1944. He was introduced as an activist by Annadurai.Periyar Life Apart from the one year in which he practiced as a lawyer in Cuddalore, his career has been as a social worker. He began working with Periyar in 1956, and assisted Periyar in editing Viduthalai, the rationalist daily of Dravidar Kazhagam. In 1962, he was made the executive editor of Viduthalai and since 1978 has been the editor. On 16 March 1978, Maniyammai died. The Managing Committee of the Dravidar Kazhagam elected K. Veeramani as General Secretary of the Dravidar Kazhagam on 17 March 1978. He was active in the social campaigns and agitations launched by Periyar for support of 'socially discriminated people,' and was incarcerated forty times for his activities. He was jailed under MISA for a year in 1976 for opposing The Emergency. He was again jailed in 1978 for showing black flags against Indira Gandhi for imposing Emergency while in power. While he was in jail, his father, C. S. Krishnasamy, died.
Awards Alagappa University conferred the Doctor of Law on him (Honoris Causa) on 4 April 2003. Periyar International Inc., (USA) gives an annual award for outstanding contributions to Social Justice, which is named in his honor. Mr. V. P. Singh, former Prime Minister of India, was the first recipient of the award. K.Veeramani is an Honorary Associate of Rationalist International.
Lifetime Achievement Award
In recognition and praise of Dravidar Kazhagam President Asiriyar K.Veeramani's humanist services, the American Humanist Association conferred the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award for the year 2019 at the International Conference held on 21 and 22 September 2019.
American Humanist Association, a group of self-less, service-oriented humanitarians, has been promoting the cause of humanism for the past 75 years striving tirelessly for social justice and the welfare of the people.
List of K. Veeramani Awardees for Social Justice Year Awardee Notes 1996 Vishwanath Pratap Singh Former prime minister of India 1997 Sitaram Kesari Former president, Congress Party of India 1998 Chandarajit Yadav Former union minister, India 1999 2000 Mayawati Former chief minister, Uttarpradesh, India 2001 2002 ST Moorthy Senior Periyarist, Singapore 2003 G. K. Moopanar Former president, Tamil Nadu Congress Party, India 2004 2005 B.S.A. Swamy Former judge, Andra High Court, Hyderabad 2006 Veera Munusamy Yangoon, Myanmar 2007 2008 Karunanidhi Former chief minister, Tamil Nadu, India 2009 Ravivarma Kumar Advocate general, Karnataka, India 2010 Chellaperumal Social worker, Kuwait 2011 G. Karunanithy General secretary, All-India OBC Organization 2011 Kalaiselvam President, Periyar Community Service, Singapore 2012 V. Hanumantha Rao M.P. Convenor, OBC MPs Forum 2013 Chhagan C. Bhujbal Former PWD minister, Maharastra, India 2014 Prof. Dhaneswar Sahoo President, Odisha Rationalist Society, Bhubaneshwar, India 2015 Nitish Kumar Chief minister, Bihar since February 2015, Bihar, India 2016 Michael Selvanayagam Deputy mayor, elected Councillor, Croydon, London Periyar International
References
External links Periyar - Official homepage of Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam - Official homepage of Dravidar Kazhagam Rationalist International
Magazines Viduthalai Unmai The Modern Rationalist Periyar Pinju