Jose Kattukkaran
First Mayor of Thrissur Corporation (2000) and Congress leader from Aranattukara
In 2000 Thrissur stopped being a municipality and became a city corporation. The old municipality was joined with the panchayats of Vilvattom, Ayyanthole, Koorkkenchery, Ollukkara and Ollur, and part of Nadathara. The first person to lead the new city as Mayor was Jose Kattukkaran of Aranattukara, known locally as Josettan.
A Congress worker
He came into public life through the Indian National Congress. The book says he first made his name organising the beedi workers, who hand-rolled small, cheap cigarettes for a living. In time he became Secretary of the Thrissur District Congress Committee.
He won his seat on the new corporation council as a Congress candidate. The book names his division as Elthuruth in two places and Karyattukara in a third, so the exact name needs checking.
Aranattukara and the city
His election continued a long thread in local history. In the old municipality, Therattil J. Antony of Aranattukara had served as chairman for many years. With the corporation, Aranattukara gained several more councillors, and one of its own became the city’s first Mayor.
The book describes Jose Kattukkaran as a man who always took part in the cultural, political and social life of Aranattukara. For a place that began as Thrissur’s river port, giving the modern city its first Mayor is a point of local pride.
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Aranattukara Today
Ponds, paddy and bamboo gave way to roads and houses, and a market village became a ward of Thrissur city. What has changed, who has spoken for Aranattukara, and what is still worth keeping.
Struggles and Movements
From Gandhiji's visit to the Lalur colony and the 1936 electricity agitation to a seventy-year fight over the city's rubbish at Lalur. Aranattukara's part in the public life of Thrissur and Kerala.