 During his stint at law college he was the College Magazine Editor and the college magazine of his tenure which marked protest against the emergency and the Indira Gandhi government was much talked about at that time.Pillai started his political career through Abvp, also was a state secretary of Abvp in 1978 -Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) leader during his college days.He served so many posts in BJP, Kozhikode district president, state secretary, general secretary, and become state level President after C K Padmanban tenure, he elected as BJP State President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala from 2003 to 2006 and also he was the BJP Prabhari of Lakshadweep UT in 2004.