Cherthala: SNDP general secretary Vellappally Natesan was elected as SN Trust chairman for the ninth consecutive time.
Natesan's re-election to the Trust's top leadership coincides with completion of his 24 years as secretary. Dr M N Soman, Thushar Vellapallly and Dr G Jayadevan will continue as chairman, assistant secretary and treasurer of the Trust respectively.
Soman and Thushar are getting elected to their respective posts for the fourth consecutive time and Jayadavan for the seventh time. The elections were held unanimously.
The following were elected to the executive committee of the Trust; S R M Aji, Mohan Shankar, N Rajendran, K Padmakukar, A Somarajan, K R Gopinath, P M Raveendran, Santosh Arayakandi and Melankode Sudhakaran. B G Hareendranath was the presiding officer for the polls held at the S N College Cherthala on Thursday.
The previous administrative council had 21 members’ including four office bearers. The number of members in the executive was reduced in view of the Covid guidelines issued by the government which prohibits the assembly of more than 20 persons.
According to the Trust manual a minimum of 35 members should take part in the meeting if a committee of 21-member is to be constituted. As per the norms, the executive committee can have either 13 or 21 members. Accordingly 13 members were elected. Expansion of the committee will take place later.
Natesan said he was re-elected to the post of SN Trust secretary for the ninth consecutive time because people have evaluated his work during the past 24 years.
Of the nine times when Natesan got elected to the secretary’s post, he had to face a rival in election only once in 2017. "Even at that time I was elected with a massive majority," Natesan told Manorama.
Natesan surpassed the record of R Sankar who held the post of SN Trust secretary twice for a total period of 19 years. The SNDP yogam general secretary has completed a quarter of a century in the post without any change.
"It was Swami Saswathikananda who took the initiative to bring me into the Trust. I took over the leadership of SN Trust in 1996 at a time when I was busy executing major contracts in the country. I have not been able to completely accomplish all the goals that were set. Some people have tried to create hurdles all this while. When you encourage people to speak against the community it is the power of the community that gets weakened. You can progress only if you are united. But many times the community is not united," Vellappally Natesan said.
Natesan said at the time when he took as secretary, the SN Trust had higher educational institutions only in seven districts. At present the Trust runs higher educational institutions in all 14 districts. The physical infrastructure facilities of these institutions have been improved. We have made big strides in the education and health care sectors. Now the priority will be to enrich the community in the education sector," Natesan added.
Later speaking at the reception organized by office bearers of the Trust after his re-election, Natesan said the massive victory in SN Trust elections was recognition for moving ahead steadfastly on the path shown by Sree Narayana Guru and for working with full confidence. This is also a mandate against those who had challenged the community, he said.
Natesan said the re-election was a befitting reply to the attempts being made for bringing the Trust administration under a Receiver, destructive activities, character assassination and fake complaints. Trust chairman Dr M N Soman, assistant secretary Thushar Vellappally, treasurer Dr G Jayadevan , presiding officer B G Hareendranath , legal advisor A N Rajan Babu took part in the felicitation ceremony.
