NCERT twists history, charges DMK allies
CPI state secretary R Mutharasan said the textbook recounts events during the reign of Mughal emperors Akbar, Babur and Aurangzeb in a manner that aligns with the current Hindutva ideology and incites religious hatred.
'This is a dangerous move that sows the seeds of communal intolerance in the tender minds of schoolchildren,' he said. MDMK general secretary Vaiko said the textbook selectively portrays Mughal rulers as tyrants while promoting a one-sided historical narrative.
MMK president M H Jawahirullah called the textbook 'political propaganda disguised as education.'
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Mint
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VS Achuthanandan, Ex-Kerala Chief Minister, passes away at 101
Former Kerala Chief Minister and veteran Marxist leader Achuthanandan passed away on Monday. He was 101 years old. The veteran leader died at a private hospital in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram while undergoing treatment following a cardiac arrest nearly a month ago, said CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan. V S Achuthanandan served as Kerala's Chief Minister from 2006 to 2011 and was elected to the state assembly seven times, serving three terms as Leader of the Opposition. The deceased veteran leader was a founding member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), was a lifelong champion of workers' rights, land reforms, and social justice. (This is a developing story. Keep checking for more updates)
Indian Express
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Twice axed from the CPM Politburo, V S Achuthanandan marched to the beat of his own drum
With a deeply ingrained habit of taking principled stands and sticking to his guns, V S Achuthanandan remained a rebel throughout his political life, twice getting removed from the CPI(M) Politburo for going against the party line. Achuthanandan died here on Monday at the age of 101. For VS, as the former Kerala Chief Minister was popularly known, the first major defiance of party line came as early as 1962 during the India-China war that divided the Indian Communists. VS was among the Communists jailed in the Thiruvananthapuram Central Prison. His plan to donate blood as well as money earned from the sale of rations from jail to Indian soldiers did not have the party's consent and was construed as helping the government. The party found Achuthanandan's approach anti-Communist, and he was demoted from the central committee to the district secretariat, where he spent a year. In 1988, when the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government led by E K Nayanar explored establishing a nuclear power plant in Kasaragod, the pro-Left Kerala Sasthra Sahithya Parishad stood against the move. VS, despite being the party's state secretary, stood with the Parishad, inviting party censure. Two years later, when CPI(M activists abducted two party councillors of the Thiruvananthapuram Municipal Corporation, the then party general secretary, E M S Namboodiripad, asked Achuthanandan to settle the issue. But for five days, Achuthanandan, then the state secretary, did not move. After consulting Nayanar, the CM, a judicial probe was ordered. Following this, the CPI(M)'s central leadership summoned the entire state secretariat to Delhi, where Achuthanandan was censured. In the last two decades of his active political life, VS faced the party's ire mainly due to intra-party feuds in which he found himself at the opposite end of the leadership. After the CPI(M) state conference in 1998, he was censured for orchestrating the removal of rivals, mainly CITU leaders, from the state committee. For several years, one of his bitter rivals in the party was Pinarayi Vijayan, the current CM. The intense factionalism got so bad in 2007 that the CPI(M) removed VS, the CM at the time, from the Politburo in what is one of the rarest punishments in the party. The leadership also suspended Vijayan. Six months later, both were reinstated, but rebelliousness continued to be irresistible for VS, then in his eighties. In 2009, when the SNC Lavalin corruption scandal hit the CPI(M), VS questioned the party's stand that the case against then state secretary Vijayan was fabricated and politically motivated, and wanted his younger colleague to step down. This again put him on a collision course with the party leadership, and VS was again removed from the Politburo. A member of the party's supreme body since 1980, the veteran leader never managed to get back to it after that. This, however, did not stop Achuthanandan's run-ins with the CPI(M) leadership. In 2012, the party publicly censured him for criticising it following the murder of rebel T P Chandrasekharan by a CPI(M)-backed gang. VS, the Opposition leader at the time, had alleged that the party was involved in the conspiracy behind the murder in May 2012. In October that year, the Central Committee publicly censured VS for attempting to visit Koodankulam to express solidarity with the anti-nuclear plant agitators. The next censure came in 2013 on the eve of his 90th birthday, again for raking up the SNC Lavalin case. In a TV interview, the former CM criticised the party's stand on the issue and for favouring Vijayan. The last time the party cracked the whip on Achuthanandan was in 2017, two years before he retired from active life following a stroke. At the time, the Central Committee pulled him up for repeated violations of party discipline and organisational principles. On several occasions, Achuthanandan's rebellious nature eclipsed the party at crucial moments. When a bypoll to the Neyyattinkara Assembly seat was held on June 1, 2012, VS left the party red-faced by visiting Chandrasekharan's wife. In February 2015, when the party's state conference was in progress in Alappuzha, Achuthanadan walked out in protest against an attack from rival delegates and the party secretariat passing a resolution against him for an anti-party stand.
The Hindu
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By the side of Pazhaya Nadakkavu Road at Paravur in Punnapra North grama panchayat in Alappuzha, Kerala, stands a modest house with a compound wall bearing a nameplate that reads 'V.S. Achuthanandan Velikkakathu'. A pall of gloom has descended over Velikkakathu and the surrounding region following the death of V.S. Achuthanandan, fondly known as Sakhavu V.S. (Comrade V.S.) among the masses. Hundreds visited the house in the hours following his demise at a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram to pay their respects. Though Mr. Achuthanandan had not visited the house since 2019 due to health issues, people in the region continue to cherish fond memories of him. 'My father and V.S. were very close. We used to visit him whenever he was at home. He would ask about everything. He was very gentle and always willing to help. He cared for all of us,' says Sethulal, a neighbour. No matter how busy he was, Mr. Achuthanandan would come to the Velikkakathu house for Thiruvonam. Whenever he was home, people from far and near would visit him, often seeking help and renewing old ties. The house also assumed political significance in February 2015, when he returned there after walking out of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State conference in Alappuzha in protest against the scathing criticism directed at him by some delegates. He refused to meet the media and several sympathisers rushed to Velikkakathu, raising slogans in his support. Apart from visiting Velikkakathu, Mr. Achuthanandan would also visit the Venthalathara house, located about a kilometre away. It was at Venthalathara that he was born and raised along with his brothers, V.S. Gangadharan and V.S. Purushothaman, and their sister, Aazhikutty. Both Gangadharan and Purushothaman have passed away. Aazhikutty still lives at Venthalathara. 'She (Aazhikutty) used to call Achuthanandan Annan (elder brother). He would gift her Onapudava (new clothes given as gifts) every Onam. However, due to health issues, they (Achuthanandan and Aazhikutty) had not seen each other for quite some time,' says Parameswaran, a relative. According to Latheesh B. Chandran, a former member of his personal staff, the veteran leader shared a deep bond with his native place. 'He always stood with the poor and downtrodden. He was ready to listen to their problems and help resolve them,' Mr. Chandran says. Local residents used to celebrate Mr. Achuthanandan's birthday by cutting a cake and distributing payasam.
