For several decades in Kerala politics, former Chief Minister Velikathu Shankaran Achuthanandan alias Comrade VS died on Monday in a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. He was 101 years old. He was away from public life since stroke in 2019. A month ago, he was admitted to the hospital after a heart attack and since he was on the life -saving system. Achuthanandan was one of the 32 leaders of the undivided Indian Communist Party who left the party in 1964 and formed the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He served as Leader of Opposition for Kerala Chief Minister and three terms from 2006 to 2011-1991–1996, 2001-2006 and 2011-2016.
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In his eight decades of political life, Achuthanandan became known as a symbol of tireless struggle. Since the period of independence, his life has been deeply associated with the socio-political history of modern Kerala. A politician affected by conflicts and movement, this communist leader played various roles in the leftist movement and a comprehensive society. At various stages of his life, he remained a voice for the grassroots workers’ organizers, an underground revolutionary, an election manager of the civic society, a crowd gathering for his party, a public interest petitioner, an anti-corruption warrior and a voice for environmental interest movements. He maintained a stream of rebellion throughout his political life. From 1980 to 1992, when coalition politics was going on in the state, he was the Secretary of State of CPI (M). He was also the convenor of the Left Democratic Front from 1996 to 2000.
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Born on October 20, 1923 in Punnpara village in Alappuzha district, Achuthanandan lost his mother Akkamma at the age of four and father Shankaran at the age of eleven. The following year, he left the seventh grade and started working at his elder brother Gangadharan’s sewing shop, where the locals often used to come for informal talks on politics. Over time, his interest in politics increased and he joined the State Congress. At the age of 17, he became a member of the undivided Indian Communist Party of India (CPI). This teenager communist was appointed to work among fishermen of his home district Alpuzha, toddy extractors and coconut trees.
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The first turn in his political life came in 1940, when he started working in a coconut fiber factory by Alpuzha. There Communist leader Comrade P. Krishna Pillai urged him to bring the workers closer to the movement and motivate them to fight for their rights. The Punnapra-Vayalar Revolt of October 1946, V.S. There was another decisive event in the construction of the organizer. He did the Diwan C.P. of Travancore. Ramaswamy Iyer inspired the workers workers for the struggle against the plan of an independent state apart from the Indian Union. On the party’s orders, they went underground to avoid the arrest of Diwan by the police. While hiding in the Poonjar, he was caught by the police and tortured him. Later, during the freedom struggle and then he was imprisoned for about five years.
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Once on October 1946, on the instructions of the party, VS was hiding in the house of a bidi laborer in Poonjar. The next day after the air firing, a police team reached the hut where VS was hidden. After confirmation, the police arrested him after confirming that the VS was the actor of the revolutionary movement. As soon as he reached Aratupatta, a policeman came and bowed his hand on his back. The beating started from there continued till Pala police station. The unconscious and blood-soaked VS was placed by the police in a corner of lock-up. When the police saw VS lying unconscious, he felt that he was dead. If died, it was an officer’s order to throw the body into the forest. With the help of two thieves, they took the body to the jeep and left for Iratupatta from Pala. When Kolappan realized that VS was not dead, he started crying. Police took VS to General Hospital in Pala. When the doctors saw the body of the young man who was badly beaten, he scolded the police.