ADIEU vs Ace communist who fought for masses
The infamous Vettinirathal episode got him his second disciplinary action in the form of a public censure. 2007's beginning saw him being warned by the CPM on the ADB loan row. The biggest punishment came in May 2007, when VS, the then CM, along with the then state secretary Pinarayi, were suspended from the Politburo for their public spat. Though they were repatriated after four months, VS was dropped from the Politburo in 2009 for deviating from the party position on the CBI case against Pinarayi.
In 2012, VS was first censured by the Central Committee when he compared Pinarayi to S A Dange, who presided over the split in the undivided CPI in 1964. Months later, he faced yet another public censuring. If most previous disciplinary actions were for factional feuding, this one was for his attempted visit to Koodankulam to express solidarity with protesters opposing the nuclear power plant. The next year, he faced one more censure for his remarks against the party line — for his statement that he has more trust in the CAG than his own party.
The 'most unkindest cut of all' came in the form of a party resolution that openly termed him a 'comrade with an anti-party mindset', during the 2015 Alappuzha state conference.
By then, the veteran, serving as the Leader of Opposition in the assembly, found himself completely isolated within the party, leading him to storm out of the conference. In January 2017, VS faced probably his ninth corrective action in the form of a censure, that was a mere face-saver for the CPM leadership. It did nothing to dent VS' widespread popularity among the masses.
No doubt, VS was the party's most popular leader among the masses and was the main campaigner in the 2016 assembly polls. He is survived by his wife K Vasumathy and children VA Arunkumar and VV Asha.
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Indian Express
6 minutes ago
- Indian Express
140 kilometres, 22 hours, a familiar destination – VS Achuthanandan's last journey
The mortal remains of former Kerala chief minister and veteran CPI(M) leader V S Achuthanandan, who died Monday at the age of 101, will be consigned to flames at Valiyachudukadu burial ground in Alappuzha on Wednesday evening. The body of VS, which was taken by road in a flower-decorated low-floor bus from the state capital on Tuesday afternoon, reached Alappuzha on Wednesday morning. It took 22 hours to cover a 140 km distance as a sea of humanity waited along the entire route to pay tribute to the Communist leader. Although the cortege was scheduled to reach his house in Punnapra, Alappuzha, on Tuesday at 9 pm, the warmth of the people delayed the final journey. Those who had gathered showered flower petals in front of the bus carrying the body and raised slogans calling VS immortal. Many who came from far-flung regions waited for hours to give a final red salute to the leader, who lived for the ordinary people and their issues. When the cortege reached Harippad in Alappuzha, local legislator and senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala was waiting to pay homage. 'When the final journey of VS is passing through Harippad, I have to be here,' he said. After reaching Alappuzha, the body was taken to his Velikkakathu house at Punnapra, where senior party leaders, including CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby, state secretary M V Govindan and Indian Union Muslim League president Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal, were present. Later, in the afternoon, the body was taken to the Alappuzha district committee office of the CPI(M), which VS had turned into his second home during his early years of political life in the undivided Communist Party. The burial ground, which is close to communist hearts, is the resting place of hundreds of martyrs of the 1946 Punnapra-Vayalar uprising and several early leaders of the Communist movement such as T V Thomas, K R Gouriyamma, P T Punoose, R Sugathan and P K Chandranadan. The uprising, in which hundreds were martyred, had been a defining moment in the making of the organiser in VS. He was in charge of a camp to make sharpened lances out of arecanut tree planks to use against the weapons of the police force. Every year, VS used to pay tributes to the martyrs on the commemoration of the event in October. The last time he visited Valiyachudukadu was in October 2019, before he was bedridden following a stroke.
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Punnapra-Vayalar — The blood-red uprising that shaped Kerala's Left
The story so far V.S. Achuthanandan, the communist icon who passed away at the age of 101, was one of the last living flagbearers of the historic Punnapra-Vayalar uprising of 1946 in Kerala. The movement, which played a critical role in shaping Kerala's political landscape, was the crucible that forged his lifelong commitment to justice and resistance. What was Punnapra-Vayalar uprising? The Punnapra-Vayalar uprising of 1946 was a mass revolt by workers and peasants against the autocratic Travancore monarchy and the autocratic rule of Diwan C.P. Ramaswami Iyer. Rooted in the coastal belt of Alappuzha, particularly in the villages of Punnapra and Vayalar, the movement was spearheaded by the nascent Communist Party of India, which mobilised coir workers, agricultural labourers and tenants who were bearing the brunt of feudal exploitation and starvation in the wake of World War Two. At the heart of the protest was rising discontent against the Diwan's proposal to keep Travancore an independent nation, separate from the Indian Union, an idea modelled on the American presidential system. The communists were objected to this 'American model', coining the slogan: 'Throw the American model into the Arabian Sea!' A revolt fuelled by suffering The economic hardship was acute. Food shortages, black market, inflation, unemployment and starvation plagued the people. Landlords, backed by the State, ruled with impunity. In the face of such cruelty, the coir workers' union and the communist party began building ward committees and organising local resistance in Cherthala and Ambalapuzha taluks. By 1945, a general strike was held across Alappuzha, Cherthala and Muhamma, demanding basic rights and rations. The response was swift and brutal in the form of martial law and police repression. The flashpoint On 25 October 1946, as Travancore prepared to declare independence with a U.S.-style constitution, unrest was already boiling over. The All Travancore Trade Union Congress had called for a general strike starting October 22. Thousands of workers took to the streets, marching toward the reserve police camp at Punnapra, demanding freedom. When the protesters reached the camp, the officer-in-charge gave the order to open fire. Several demonstrators were shot dead. The officer and five policemen were also killed in the clashes that followed. Outraged, over 1,000 communists in Vayalar retaliated with crude spears (varikuntham, as it is locally called) carved from arecanut tree stems and killed several police personnel. The Diwan responded by declaring martial law. By October 27, the Travancore army, with naval support, had surrounded Vayalar. Outgunned, the rebels resisted fiercely but were eventually crushed. The exact toll remains uncertain, but hundreds of communists lost their lives in the brutal crackdown. Achuthanandan's role Achuthanandan, then a 23-year-old coir worker and newly minted Communist, was deeply involved in organising workers ahead of the uprising. Though arrested before the final clashes, he played a crucial role in mobilising resistance. After the uprising, V.S. went underground. Escaping to Kottayam through the backwaters, he trekked 30 km to reach Poonjar as instructed by Travancore Communist Party acting secretary K.V. Pathrose. In Poonjar, he hid in the homes of sympathisers but was soon caught and subjected to intense torture. He was presumed dead and nearly dumped in the forest. But he survived and was treated in Pala hospital before being transferred to the Poojappura Central Jail in Thiruvananthapuram. Aftermath and legacy Though the uprising was violently suppressed, it dramatically shifted Travancore's political trajectory. It symbolised the awakening of class consciousness among the oppressed and laid the ideological foundation for the rise of Left politics in the State. Less than a year later, Diwan C.P. Ramaswami Iyer resigned and left the State after an attempt on his life. This struggle also led to the beginning of a process through which the two princely States of Travancore and Cochin were first made into what was known as the Travancore-Cochin State. Seven years later, they were merged with the Malabar district of the British-ruled Madras presidency to form the new, united linguistic State of Kerala. In 1957, following the first-ever elections to the Kerala Legislative Assembly, the first democratically communist government came to power under the leadership of E.M.S. Namboodiripad. The communists regard Punnapra-Vayalar uprising as not isolated. It was part of a broader wave of militant actions across Kerala — Karivellur, Kavumbai and Thillankeri in Malabar saw similar uprisings. But the resistance in Alappuzha stood out for its intensity, sacrifice, and impact. The slogan 'the blood of Vayalar is our blood' became a rallying cry for generations of Left activists. A life lived in the spirit of resistance For Achuthanandan, the uprising was a turning point that charted the rest of his life. As a trade unionist, Leader of the Opposition, Chief Minister and elder statesman of the Left, he carried the spirit of Punnapra-Vayalar into every phase of his public life. With his passing, Kerala also looses a bridge to its revolutionary past. But the legacy set by V.S. has ensured that the fire lit in 1946 lives on in Kerala's politics, memory and conscience.
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First Post
2 hours ago
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Air India crash: Wrong bodies sent to grieving families in UK, report cites DNA tests
Multiple families of victims of the Air India 171 crash in the United Kingdom have received wrong bodies of their deceased relatives, according to a report. read more Members of Indian Army's engineering arm prepare to remove the wreckage of an Air India aircraft, bound for London's Gatwick Airport, which crashed during take-off from an airport in Ahmedabad, India. Reuters Multiple British families of Air India 171 crash have received wrong bodies, according to a report. On June 12, the London-bound AI 171 flight crashed shortly after take-off in Gujarat's Ahmedabad. Out of the 260 deceased, 52 were British nationals. Their remains were identified by genetic testing and dental records and transported to the United Kingdom. The Daily Mail has now reported that the identification and transportation of bodies was botched up in multiple cases. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD These errors came to light after Inner West London coroner Dr Fiona Wilcox sought to verify the remains of British nationals transported from India by matching their DNA with samples provided by the families, as per the newspaper. Multiple families receive wrong bodies, remains: Report In at least two cases, families of deceased got wrong bodies and remains, according to The Mail. In one case, relatives had to abandon funeral plans after they learnt that the coffin they received contained the wrong body. In another case, remains of multiple persons were wrongly put together in a coffin and given to a family. In the second case, the remains were separated and the family went ahead with the funerals with the remains that were identified with their relative. The newspaper reported that there are fears that there could be more such cases where families could have been handed over wrong bodies or remains. It said that an enquiry was taking place in the matter and British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was expected to raise the matter with Indian PM Narendra Modi, who embarked on a visit to the UK on Wednesday. Victims' families flag lack of transparency The Mail reported that one relative criticised the 'lack of transparency and oversight in the identification and handling of remains' and said that there were calls for a British-run ID unit to be flown in to Ahmedabad. 'Our loved ones were British citizens. They deserved better in life. They certainly deserved better in death,' the relative said. The families told the newspaper that they did not see their deceased relatives, but had to rely entirely on the labelling provided by Indian authorities. On their part, the Indian authorities took DNA samples and also referred to dental records to determine which body or remains belonged to whom. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'Nobody looked at the remains. We weren't allowed to. They just said 'this is your mother or father' and gave us a paper label with an ID number on it. We had to take their word for it. It's horrific that this could have happened, but what could anyone do?' Altaf Taju from Blackburn, whose London-based parents were killed along with their son-on-law Altafhusen Patel, told the newspaper.
