In a significant milestone to the surge of women in politics in India, 21-year-old student Arya Rajendran is all set to become the youngest mayor in the country as she would be becoming the mayor of Trivandrum, the largest corporation in Kerala, and the sophomore at All Saints' College, Trivandrum is in rains of appreciations from the women activists and political leaders. 

Being a daughter of an electrician, Arya Rajendran was raised as a patriarch of Communism with her family members are staunch supporters of the leftist party. With the strong base of Communism in her family, Arya Rajendran has attached herself to the leftist ideology when she was in class 5. She rose with the idealogy and later she went on to become a part of the state committee of the Students' Federation of India (CPM's students' wing). 

Arya is now ready to set a remarkable national record as she will be taking office as the Trivandrum Mayor, becoming the youngest mayor in India. The 21-year-old second-year B.Sc Maths student in Trivandrum and is all set to be named by the party as Trivandrum Mayor after the state ruling party CPM had won 51 of its 100 wards in the recent local body elections. While Arya's father works as an electrician, her mother is a LIC agent, and her brother Arvind, who had completed automobile engineering, has been working in the Middle east. 

Arya had first became associated with the party when she joined its children's collective Baalasangham as early as class 5. In what had become a trendsetting moment for the young people, Arya was active in the ideology amid her primary school and following her active engagement in Baalasangham, she was then inducted into the Students' Federation of India (SFI) and she has been a part of its state committee and she also has been serving as the state chief of Baalasangham for the past two years. 

According to reports, the district committee of the CPM had recommended Arya's name as the next mayor, and the state committee is expected to make an official announcement on her appointment on Saturday and once the official announcement has been made, the national feat for Arya would be in her sight. Being the Chief of Baalasangham, which is a children's organization affiliated to the CPM, Arya told a news agency during the local body polls that she would be focusing on upgrading the lower primary school in the ward following her victory. 

Along with Arya, two women candidates - Oleena and Pushpalatha were in the mayoral race. However, these two women got defeated while Arya had won from the Mudavamughal ward in Trivandrum after she got 2,872 votes which are 549 votes more than the Congress candidate who contested against her. Kerala's local bodies are setting a trend for the nation as half of the seats in the local bodies have been reserved for women while the top posts like Mayorship would be reserved for women in the alternate terms and the outgoing administration was led by Sreekumar, it's a turn for women to run the incoming administration and Arya will be taking over the mayorship.

As this year has been a turn for women, Arya's name has been recommended after two women in the race had got defeated. According to reports, Arya's family lives in a small house in Trivandrum with Rs 6000 rent, and her family had never turned against her interest and participation in politics. Speaking to a news agency, Arya said that her brother has gone to the Middle East to meet the financial needs of the family. However, her family has never blocked her from taking part in active politics.

From Baalsangham, SFI, to Mayor, Arya has grown and watered her ideology and she has said that Kerala's Health Minister KK Shailaja was her first role model for the work that she had done during the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. By citing that she is against superstitious beliefs, Arya says she is a believer in positive energy. Senior CPM leader Kadakampally Surendran said he has been seeing Arya since her childhood. 

The CPM leader asserted that the youth and new generation are the future of our country and they have huge dreams and visions. Along with Surendran, many CPM leaders and young activists have been commending Arya Rajendran for her new assignment as the Trivandrum Mayor. As she has been waiting for the official announcement, Arya told a news agency that her first priority would be waste-handling and though the previous administration had done a lot, she says she needs to do more. 

Arya's elevation would be history and would give a major push to women's participation in politics and rule. The ruling CPM had surged big in the recently held local body polls and the party had won Thiruvanathapuram Corporation for the second consecutive time while it also has retained its base strongly and ousted BJP from the local bodies at a high time when the state is months ahead of the assembly polls.