V.S. Achuthanandan: there is no replacement for VS in Kerala politics

The Hindu

4 days ago

Among the leaders of the communist movement in Kerala, there is no parallel to comrade V.S. Achuthanandan.
Born into a poor working-class family, he did not even receive a formal education. At that time, most of the leaders who came to the communist movement were from either aristocratic families or educated people from middle-class families and forward castes. VS had only basic education, yet the social consciousness that he developed was without parallels.
In his teens, he went to stitching tents for Aspinwall Company to earn a living. It was from this background that he became the most powerful Opposition Leader Kerala has ever seen and later became the Chief Minister.
VS was an Opposition Leader who rushed to wherever the poor faced difficulties in social life and in all these, he led the party to generate social momentum and movements. At the same time, he raised all those issues like in a battleground in the Assembly.
VS' rise as an unquestionable leader of the people is a rare and unprecedented chapter in Kerala politics. He became the Chief Minister at the ripe old age of 83 that too after overcoming various hurdles, but the people witnessed a young mind and body in him probably younger than many of his team members or leaders in the Opposition.
I have watched him from a distance and on many occasions in close quarters as well. He breathed politics. Everything else was secondary to him. He was a staunchly honest man whose primary concern was the poor. His constant political camaraderie was with the one who stood at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
When communist parties disintegrated in eastern Europe, VS, along with EMS, E.K. Nayanar and K.R, Gouri, played a major role in ensuring that the same did not happen in Kerala.
It was Mr. Achuthanandan who strengthened many young people in the party in Kerala. Although some of them later rejected him, that great warrior was unaffected. His personality was like an unstoppable storm.
We cannot find another leader in India who has approached environmental issues with such seriousness and intensity. The opposition that he faced in society was not small, though now everyone unanimously says that his stance had been valid.
It is no small feat that he stood strongly against corruption in every available space in a democratic process. There is no other leader in Kerala who has used courts more effectively and powerfully for political struggle for social justice.
Those in his opposition feared the sharpness of that tongue. It was a firm resolve that was unwilling to compromise with anyone in a position that he felt was right. But at the same time, he has not uttered a single word or phrase that could be called unparliamentary against his political opponents.
He spoke to the people clearly, precisely, and without distortion in an exceptional Malayalam language that no one else spoke before or after. The visual media in Kerala, which have lately become unbearable due to distorted pronunciations by the anchors, should take as a model the inimitable fluency, precision, and pronunciation of Malayalam words by this popular leader who has only received basic education.
There is no replacement for VS in Kerala politics. There will never be one like him in future too
(writer is former CPI(M) MP and MLA)