S. Jagathrakshakan (born 15 August 1950 in Kalingamali, Villupuram district in Tamil Nadu) is an Indian Tamil businessman and politician. He did his matriculation at Valudavur. He is a member of Lok Sabha of India from Arakkonam constituency of Tamil Nadu and has been elected from this constituency thrice since 1999. He was the minister of state for commerce and industry from November 2012 to March 2013. He is also the chairman of Shree Balaji Medical College and Hospital. He is the owner of Dr. Rela Hospital and Institute. He has authored 30 books, one of which was released by Mother Teresa.
In his political career, Jagathrakshakan has been elected once to the Tamil Nadu state assembly during the 1980 elections and to the Lok Sabha during the 1984 elections from the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) party. He also headed the ADMK parliamentary party from 1985–89. He won the Arakkonam lok sabha constituency during 1999 and 2009 elections from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party. He started a Vanniyar(vanniyar kula sathriyan) caste based party called Veera Vanniyar Peravai in 2004, which became Jananayaga Munnetra Kazhagam in August 2004 and merged with DMK in 2009.
Jagathrakshakan has been a centre of controversy in various issues like Coal scam exposed in March 2012 where he is alleged to have utilized his political clout for illegal coal allocation for his company in 2007. He is believed to have amassed assets from 5 Crore in 2009 to 70 crores in 2011, which is the highest percentage rise of assets among all ministers in the central cabinet. In a sting operation conducted in June 2009, it was exposed that one of his medical colleges collected 20 lakh rupees for MBBS. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Arakkonam Lok Sabha constituency as part of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in the 2019 Indian general election.
Career
Jagathrakshakan was first elected to the Tamil Nadu assembly in 1980 when he contested from Uthiramerur as a candidate of Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) under the leadership of MG Ramachandran. He is one of the first political leaders to establish a professional college. He started the Bharath Institute of Science and Technology in 1984, which later went on to become Bharath University in 2003. The branches of the college were opened in Pondicherry and Tamilnadu.
He was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1985 from Arakkonam constituency and he served as the leader of ADMK parliamentary Party. After MGR's death, he sided the ADMK faction headed by MGR's wife Janaki and R.M.Veerappan. He contested from Uthiramerur constituency in 1989 state assembly elections ending up with fourth position. During the 1999 parliamentary elections, he got a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) ticket through R.M.Veerappan's MGR Kazhagam (he also served as the general secretary of that party) and won from Arakkonam constituency. He started a Vanniyar caste based party called Veera Vanniyar Peravai in 2004, which in August 2004, became Jananayaga Munnetra Kazhagam. He supported the Congress-DMK combine during the 2004 general elections, but did not contest. In 2009, he merged the party with DMK. He won the 2009 election from Arakkonam constituency as a candidate of DMK by defeating Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) candidate and former Union Minister of State for Railways R. Velu in Arakkonam. He became the minister of state for information and broadcasting and later went on to become the minister of new and renewable energy in November 2012. He did not take charge as a minister and after talks with Karunanidhi, the party chief, he was allocated the portfolio of Commerce and industry on 2 November 2012. DMK pulled out of the ruling UPA on 20 March 2013 following widespread protests in Tamil Nadu against the central government for not taking up the concerns of Tamils in Sri Lanka in the UN resolution against the alleged human rights violation against Tamils by Sri Lankan government. Jagathrakshakan resigned his ministerial post along with other members of the party.
Jagathrakshakan married Anusuya on 9 September 1973 and the pair have a son and a daughter. He has visited and been part of visiting delegation to various countries. His primary interests are providing education to the down-trodden, helping orphans and physically challenged. He started a research organisation called Alwarkal aaiyuvumaiyam dedicated to the promotion of Tamil culture and art. He has authored 30 books, one of which was released by Mother Teresa. His favourite past times include playing volleyball.