A formidable force in Kerala’s political history
THE World Malayalee Voice joins the multitudes in paying homage to V S Achuthanandan, former chief minister of Kerala and a great icon of the Indian Communist Party (Marxist), who passed away on Monday at the age of 101.
What does qualify VS as a unique Communist leader?
VS, as the masses fondly call him, is a staunch Marxist known for his sharp rhetoric, anti-corruption stance and unwavering commitment to social justice. He was India's first communist leader from a working-class background to become Chief Minister.
A founding figure in the Communist Party of India (Marxist) after the 1964 split in the undivided Communist Party, Achuthanandan's life in Kerala was defined by unrelenting struggle -- against the entrenched injustices of a caste and class-bound society, and against the creeping revisionism he saw within his party.
A formidable force in Kerala’s political history, Achuthanandan remained active in politics until 2018, when a stroke weakened his health.
He was 44 when he was first elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), and 82 when he became Chief Minister in 2006.
Thrice, he sat as the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly.
Born in Punnapra in Alappuzha, Achuthanandan was drawn to the workers’ movement as a child, listening to the conversations of coir workers and Communist leader and freedom fighter VK Karunakaran. He was 23 when, in 1946, he took part in the Punnapra-Vayalar workers’ uprising against the Travancore Dewan’s rule.
During one of the police crackdowns, he was so badly injured that he was presumed dead and nearly thrown off a cliff. But he survived — and was arrested again during the Communist ban following Independence.
In 1964, Achuthanandan became one of the 32 leaders who walked out of the CPI to form the CPI(M). Three years later, he won his first Assembly election from Ambalappuzha and got married to comrade K. Vasumathi. He had by then risen within the party ranks, from state committee member to district secretary of Alappuzha.
During his tenure as an opposition legislator, Achuthanandan had been a strong voice against forest encroachments and the illegal lottery mafia. He stood against the police firing on Adivasi people in Muthanga and the operations of the Coca-Cola plant in Plachimada.
He was also known for his outspokenness, a trait that often landed him in controversies, both within and outside the party.
Within the CPI(M), his strife with his younger comrade Pinarayi Vijayan, Kerala’s incumbent Chief Minister, led to unacknowledged factionalism. The rift reached its peak when Pinarayi Vijayan was accused of corruption in the SNC-Lavalin case.
Achuthanandan came to be seen as a rebel within the CPI(M), refusing to uncritically toe the party line. His visit to the house of KK Rema, the widow of TP Chandrasekharan, a politician who had left the CPI(M) to form another party before being brutally murdered by alleged CPI(M) members, cemented this image, while further endearing him to the masses.
Achuthanandan's unconventional ways, unpredictable actions, and famous singsong speeches sparkling with sarcasm made him so much a crowd puller that the party had to call him back for both the 2011 and 2016 elections after initially deciding not to give him a seat.
After the 2016 elections, when Pinarayi Vijayan became Chief Minister, Achuthanandan was given a nominal post of Chairman of the Administrative Reforms Commission. He remained active in that role for two more years before his health weakened.
His commitment to public service is a shining example for all.
