When she was elected as Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation, Arya Rajendran made to the headlines of the national media. At the age of 21, she was touted as the youngest Mayor of the country. Three years later , this young lady has become a major embarrassment to the CPI(M) as well as the people of the capital city. RS Sasikumar, chairman, Save University Campaign, a leading whistleblower against the highhandedness of the ruling CPI(M) has disclosed that Mayor Arya Rajendran scored zero marks for Mathematics and just seven marks for her Malayalam paper in the semester examination. The Worshipful Mayor is a B Sc student in the city’s All Saints College.
“She had said in an interview that she wants to crack the civil service examination and prefers to be an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer. If this is the quality of her studies, this young lady would not be able to get the job of even a last grade employee in the government service without the help of her party,” said Sasikumar while revealing the marks scored by the Worshipful Mayor.
Sasikumar also said that Arya Rajendran was an embodiment of arrogance and petty mindedness. She posted her picture breastfeeding her newborn and got it published in all newspapers with the caption “Mayor Breastfeeding her child while on office duty,” a la Jacinda Ardern (former Prime Minister of New Zealand).
Arya Rajendran was the principal character in a series of controversies that shook the State. The letter written by her to the district secretary of the CPI(M) asking him to nominate the candidates he prefers to be appointed as regular staff in the Corporation office, her official car violating all security protocols and gatecrashing into the motorcade of the then President Ram Natha Kovind too hogged the limelight.
As on date, a controversial stand off between the Mayor supported by her husband who is also a CPI(M) MLA and Yedu Krishnan, driver of a State Road Transport Corporation bus is the major topic of discussion in Kerala. Arya Rajendran alleges that Yedu refused to give space to her personal car in a thoroughfare in the capital city. This led the Mayor to overtake the KSRTC bus and park the car in front of the bus blocking its way. Her response was that the driver showed an obscene sign to her when she sounded the horn, an allegation that he denied vehemently. The city police gave preference to whatever was told by the Mayor and slapped charges on Yedu under harassment of women.
According to Sasikumar, the move by CPI(M) to appoint immature persons to important posts like ministers and heads of corporations have led the State to anarchy. “This has affected the education sector in Kerala as most of these recruits are from SFI, the student wing of the CI(M).
