After passing his high school with 42% from a non-electrified village Malayalam medium school, Alphons became one of the toppers of the 1979 batch of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS). He vowed that he would never be a door mat for the politician, but would be a voice of the hapless citizen. For 27 years he was their voice, running pitched battles against the corrupt system. He was rated to be one of the most competent officers in the history of the civil service. He was in TIME magazine’s list of 100 young global leaders in 1994. He is an inspirational orator and has spoken to over three million people, mostly students, in the past 35 years. In 2006, he quit IAS, contested as an independent from Kanjirappally constituency and was elected as an MLA. Since then, he has served as a member of BJP National Executive and Minister of State for Tourism. In 2017 he took oath as Member to the Upper House (Rajya Sabha). He was also nominated for the Lok Sabha elections from Ernakulam Constituency, Kerala, as BJP Candidate.