Post-independence and Cold War Contemporary history Vadakkoot Viswanatha Menon, also known as Ambadi Viswam (15 January 1927[1] – 3 May 2019[2]), was an Indian politician and was the former minister in the southern state of Kerala in India.
He contested from Ernakulam constituency to Lok Sabha with support from the Bharatiya Janata Party[3] and a rebel CPI(M) splinter group[4] in 2004 and was defeated by Dr. Sebastian Paul.
Starting his career as a student activist in the Indian independence movement in his alma mater Maharaja's College, Ernakulam, he became popularly known as Ambadi Viswam among his peers, seniors and near ones.
A follower of Mahatma Gandhi since childhood, he was inclined towards communism during his student days due to the influence of prominent personalities around him, including his cousin A. K. Damodaran, former Indian Administrative Service official.
V. Viswanatha Menon was one of the earliest members of the undivided Communist Party of India in Kochi and played an essential role in building its base during the colonial and post-colonial period of the 1940s and early 1950s.