Red crusader and the last of CPM's founders: Ex-CM of Kerala VS Achuthanandan dies at 101
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A singular chapter of
Kerala
's red history turned its last page Monday. Former CM Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan - firebrand Marxist,
CPM
's founding member, and Kerala's conscience-keeper - died aged 101 in a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram at 3.20pm after 28 days on life support.
VS, as he was known across political aisles, was hospitalised after a heart attack on June 23. Trusted comrades stayed by his side to the end. Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan rushed in for a final glimpse. Funeral will be held Wednesday evening in Alappuzha. Public homage begins Monday evening at AKG Centre in Thiruvananthapuram, continues Tuesday at Secretariat Durbar Hall, and concludes at Alappuzha Town Hall.
Born on Oct 20, 1923, in Alappuzha to Velikkakathu Sankaran and Akkamma, he lost his mother at four and father at 11.
Hunger cut short school at Class 7. The "chovan" (Ezhava) boy faced casteist jeers, but his resolve only hardened. At 21, he was organising Kuttanad farm workers. By 1940, he joined Communist Party. Jail, underground life, resistance - his early life reads like Kerala's own left-wing chronicle.
Achuthanandan became CPM state secretary (1980-92), was elected to the assembly four times, and led the state as CM from 2006 to 2011 - the first working-class communist in India to do so.
He twice served as opposition leader, and his loss at Mararikulam in 1996 polls shocked even his critics.
His brand of politics was not of quiet obedience. He challenged CPM brass, openly taking on party honchos he dubbed "crafty revisionists". His feud with Pinarayi cost him a politburo seat. Yet he never broke from the party.
He led anti-corruption crusades, exposed sex scandals involving ministers and film stars, and sent former minister R Balakrishna Pillai to jail. A green activist before the phrase existed, he battled land grab and paddy reclamation. Even in his 90s, he hired a tutor to learn Hindi after being named administrative reforms panel chief. Supporters called him the soul of CPM. With his passing, the last of the founding reds was gone.
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