Beela Venkatesan, Tamil Nadu health secretary who led early Covid fight, dies at 55

Venkatesan, an MBBS graduate from Madras Medical College and a 1997-batch officer of the Indian Administrative Service, brought a rare blend of medical training and administrative acumen to her posts. She had served in Bihar, Jharkhand, and Tamil Nadu before rising to senior positions in health, revenue, welfare, and energy departments. At the time of her death, she was the state’s energy secretary — a position she had occupied since June 2023.
Born in Kanniyakumari district in 1969, Venkatesan was the daughter of former DGP L N Venkatesan and Congress leader Rani Venkatesan, a former legislator. She joined the IAS after completing medicine, beginning as sub-collector in Chengalpattu before moving across posts in fisheries, textiles, commercial taxes, disaster management, and social welfare.

She served as special officer in the Chief Minister’s Cell and later as Commissioner of Fisheries and Commissioner of Town and Country Planning. Her longest spell of visibility, however, remained the fraught months as health secretary during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, before she was replaced by J Radhakrishnan.

When the pandemic reached India in early 2020, Venkatesan — then serving as health secretary — was thrust into a role that drew comparisons to Anthony Fauci in the United States. Calm yet firm at daily briefings, she laid out testing protocols, quarantine strategies, and hospital preparedness.

Unlike approaches elsewhere that sometimes alienated communities, her strategies emphasised inclusion and trust — decisions that were later seen as crucial to Tamil Nadu’s early success in containing the virus.

Her most defining moment came during the Tablighi Jamaat cluster, among the first and largest outbreaks in Tamil Nadu. While cases linked to foreign preachers in Erode threatened to spiral, Venkatesan spearheaded a statewide tracing effort that combined health officials, police networks, and community leaders. “Using a disease to defame someone is cruel,” she told The Indian Express at a time when Hindutwa groups used it as a communal issue. “I repeat… Do not paint a communal colour on an epidemic. Nobody wishes to get an infection or a disease.”

Her stance, both scientific and humane, helped steer public discourse away from stigma. Her team traced thousands of potential contacts, enforced quarantines, and prevented an outbreak from engulfing the state.

Even as other states, including Kerala, barred the entry of migrant workers and returnees from high-risk zones like Mumbai and other Indian states, Venkatesan chose a different path. She insisted no Tamil would be stopped at the state’s borders. Instead, she led a system of screening at checkpoints, on highways, railway stations, and bus depots, welcoming thousands while trying to minimise spread – which was seen as a high-wire act that balanced science, compassion, and political sensitivity.

Her daily press conferences became a fixture in households, her soft-spoken clarity contrasting with the panic of the time. Doctors said her medical training allowed her to cut through bureaucratic clutter.

Her personal life drew headlines in later years. Venkatesan had married Rajesh Das, an IPS officer, in 1992. The couple separated, and she legally changed her name from Beela Rajesh to Beela Venkatesan in December 2023, after Das was convicted in a sexual harassment case involving a woman police officer. Earlier this year, she also filed a complaint against him, alleging trespass and intimidation at her residence. He was arrested and later granted bail.
Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi called her a “devoted public servant whose compassionate leadership and sharp administrative skills profoundly impacted countless lives.” Chief Minister M K Stalin expressed “deep shock,” recalling her work across departments and her leadership during the pandemic’s darkest days.

Condolences also poured in from opposition leaders, including AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, PMK’s Anbumani Ramadoss, BJP state president Nainar Nagenthran, and Congress president K Selvaperunthagai.
The funeral is scheduled in Chennai on Thursday afternoon.