Thiruvananthapuram: The Communist Party of India (CPI) has appointed a teen girl as the head of a local unit in the Thiruvananthapuram district. A second-year graduate student, named SS Chippy, will steer the Left party's affairs as the Branch Secretary of the Thrippadapuram area which is on the outskirts of Kerala's capital city Thiruvananthapuram.
"I am actively associated with the AISF. But my elevation as Branch Secretary was quite unexpected," Chippy told Manorama News.
(The All-India Students' Federation (AISF) is the student's wing of the CPI.)
More women should come forward to join politics, she said.
Chippy is a student of St Xavier's College at Thumba, the coastal village famed for India's first spaceport, the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station which is an agency of the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Chippy commenced political activities following her father, Shibu, a labourer associated with the CPI. Earlier, Shibu too was the party branch secretary. He expressed happiness and pride over her daughter's recognition by the communist party.
Chippy's mother Suchitra and elder sister Shilpa give whole-hearted support for her endeavours. Shilpa is an electronics engineer based in Chennai.
Apart from public work, the teen politician is interested in painting and dance.
Incidentally, the Mayor of Thiruvananthapuram City Arya Rajendran is the youngest to hold the post anywhere in the country. When she was elected the mayor in late 2020 she was only 21 years old. She contested the civic body elections while she was a college student. She won from the Mudavanmugal ward of the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation.
