Green MSP who claimed to have ‘grown up starving’ in India exposed as privately educated with privileged upbringing

The politician, who uses they/them pronouns, is currently living in Britain on a student visa and could be forced to leave the country before the end of the parliamentary term.

An investigation by The Times has found that Manivannan came from an upper middle-class family in Chennai, one of India’s wealthiest cities.

Despite the Scottish Greens’ opposition to private education, the MSP attended both a private secondary school and private university in India.

During the election campaign, Manivannan also suggested they came from a “lower caste” background and had at times been “starved”.

Shortly before the election, the MSP said they had “saved and worked and lied and begged” in order to study for a PhD at the University of St Andrews.

However, The Times have reported that Manivannan’s father, Manivannan Dasarathi, holds degrees in chemical engineering and business administration and has decades of senior management experience across both government and private sectors.

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The MSP’s paternal grandmother operated a medical clinic, while their maternal grandmother was a pioneering gynaecologist who founded a hospital in Tirupattur.

Manivannan’s mother, Rajachitra Manivannan, also had an established academic career.

The family’s background allowed the MSP to attend Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidyashram, a private school in Chennai described by former pupils as one of the city’s most prestigious institutions.

The school is said to have offered an array of international trips, including visits to Nasa in the US, and boasted extensive sporting facilities.

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Manivannan later studied at OP Jindal Global University in Haryana, one of India’s best-known private liberal arts universities.

Fees at the institution reportedly ranged between £7,800 and £9,300 annually – significantly higher than those charged at public universities in India.

Following graduation, Manivannan worked at Essai Education, a consultancy helping wealthy Indian families secure places for their children at elite universities including Harvard, Yale, Oxford and Cambridge.

Former colleagues describe the firm’s clients as extremely wealthy and said the company “paid insanely well”.

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Manivannan also maintained links to Discover, a related mentoring company pairing school pupils with PhD researchers to strengthen university applications.

A job advertisement posted by the MSP last year described Discover as “my research mentorship firm”.

Questions have also emerged over Manivannan’s immigration status and ability to remain in Britain for the full Holyrood term, which lasts until 2031.

The MSP recently appealed for financial help with visa costs through a crowdfunding page that raised £1,066 towards a graduate visa application fee.

However, a graduate visa would only allow Manivannan to remain in Britain until 2029.

The MSP has reportedly explored applying for a global talent visa, though immigration experts questioned whether they would meet the required criteria.

A Scottish Conservative spokesman said: “It appears that Q Manivannan has questions to answer after apparently pulling the wool over the eyes of the Scottish Greens.”

“This new MSP wouldn’t be the first left-wing politician to embellish their supposedly working-class credentials to curry favour.

“But the public expect those they elect to be transparent and honest about their life before politics, rather than peddling false information about what they have done and where they came from.”

GB News have approached the Scottish Greens for comment.