Thiruvananthapuram: Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan, affectionately known as Comrade VS to his partymen and beyond, died at a private hospital here on Monday at the age of 101. The firebrand leader, whose life’s story is also the socio-political history of Kerala, was on a life support system for the last 28 days, and he breathed his last at 3.20pm.He was hospitalised following a massive heart attack on June 23, and true to his nature, put up a tough fight against odds. His trusted lieutenants, who were camping at the hospital, believed until the last moment that he was coming back to life. However, on Monday, his health deteriorated, and the blood pressure went low.The doctors passed the message to his family members, and chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan himself rushed to the hospital to catch a glimpse of the last surviving founder leader of the CPM. The funeral will be held in Alappuzha’s ‘Valiya Chudukadu’ on Wednesday evening, after public homage at AKG Centre on Monday evening and Secretariat Durbar Hall in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday and Alappuzha Town Hall on Wednesday.The demise of Achuthanandan, a staunch Marxist known for his sharp rhetoric, anti-corruption stance and unwavering commitment to social justice, marks the end of an unparalleled era. He demonstrated through his life that it was no different from struggle.Few politicians in the country must have aged as wisely and fondly as Achuthanandan did. A gifted demagogue and a crowd-puller, he was a born rebel with a rare clarity on the causes he stood for. He worked as the conscience keeper of the CPM until old age weakened him completely.VS shot to fame as a crusader against corruption, a green activist, and a humanist during the final phase of his over 80 years of active political career. Unlike many other cult figures carefully crafted by the CPM, the popularity of VS was more incidental, and it baffled and irritated his own party honchos, whom he openly criticised for being crafty revisionists in the age of liberalisation.Born to Velikkakathu Sankaran and Akkamma on Oct 20, 1923, near Punnapra, Alappuzha, Achuthanandan lost his mother when he was four and his father at 11. He ended his formal education in the seventh grade as there were no means for even a meal a day. The “chovan” (Ezhava) boy also had to face taunts from the upper-caste children.He was only 21 years old when he was deputed to organise farm workers and labourers in Kuttanad. He joined the State Congress in 1939, before becoming a member of the Communist Party a year later. He was jailed for over five years during the post-Independence years, besides being forced to spend over four years underground to evade arrest.In 1957, with the formation of the first govt, Achuthanandan emerged as a prominent state leader. The party split in 1964, battles against policy changes, conflicts, and intense factional struggles, along with his shock defeat in Mararikulam, all intertwined Kerala politics with him.He was India’s first communist leader from a working-class background to rise to the office of the chief minister in 2006. He was the CPM state secretary from 1980 to 1992. He was elected to the assembly four times and twice served as the opposition leader. In the 1996 election, he suffered a shock defeat in Mararikulam.He was always ready to put up a fight against what he perceived as ideological departure and revisionism in the CPM. In this fight, he earned the support of fellow comrades in the party. However, Achuthanandan never went the extra mile to protect the interests of his supporters, and as a result, many leaders deserted his camp or got ousted from the party.He could still find new supporters and new causes. In this process, he was mostly accused of giving weapons to party opponents. Even while raising the banner of revolt against party leadership, VS believed that he had no existence separate from the CPM and was ready to face disciplinary action from the party committees.Achuthanandan was the first politician in Kerala to identify the potential of green politics, and he meticulously fought against land grab and large-scale paddy reclamation. While serving as the opposition leader, he ardently fought for justice for victims in some of the infamous sexual harassment cases involving politicians and film stars. He was instrumental in former minister R Balakrishna Pillai getting a jail term in connection with a corruption case.Within the party, he publicly objected to the CPM’s overtures to communal forces, including the IUML, PDP, and INL. His open squabbles with the then party state secretary, Pinarayi Vijayan, cost him a place in the politburo. But setbacks and humiliations could not inflict any lasting effect on him. No wonder left intellectual Prof M N Vijayan once accused VS of ‘feeding on defeat’!The indomitable spirit of VS was visible even in his 90s when he appointed a tutor to teach him Hindi after he was appointed the administrative reforms committee chairman.
