egendary Communist leader and former Kerala chief minister VS Achuthanandan, or VS as he is fondly referred to among his legion of supporters, turned 100 on Friday, a remarkable milestone for a person whose star shines as bright as ever despite having faded from public life four years ago.
Following a stroke in October 2019, VS has rarely made public appearances and has largely spent his days and nights at his son’s home in Thiruvananthapuram. On Friday, as he marked his 100th birthday, top political leaders, across the spectrum, made their way to his home to wish the veteran leader. Though a horde of journalists parked themselves outside the house, photos or videos of the Left leader could not be taken as his doctors have warned against any contact with outsiders.
The veteran leader’s son Arun Kumar told reporters, “He is happy and taking rest. We have conveyed wishes from everyone to him. Doctors have warned us from allowing people inside and meeting him as he could contract an infection. He reads newspapers and watches TV news every day.”
‘His life intertwined with history of modern Kerala’
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, in his birthday message for his colleague and once-fierce rival within the party, said the life of VS was invariably tied with the history of modern Kerala and that his role among others in shaping the state into what it is now can be never denied.
“Before the formation of united Kerala, VS led brilliant struggles against imperialism, tyranny and monarchy. His stint as a legislator, leader of opposition and chief minister in later years and his interventions and presence in key agitations was remarkable. He was a man who always stood up against injustice and exploitation towards the toiling masses,” Vijayan said.
VS spent his teenage and youth years organising strikes by coir workers and farm labourers of Kuttanad, a paddy belt in central Kerala, and grabbed attention in the popular Punnapra-Vayalar uprising of Communist workers against the then Diwan of Travancore state.
“His life is a precious link between that time and the present. He displayed a martial spirit in all stages of his life. His 100th birthday is a happy and respectable moment for labour movement, progressive movement, the CPM as well as the state,” Vijayan said in a note.
Poverty-stricken childhood and early attraction to Communism
Born on October 20, 1923 in Punnapra in Alappuzha district, Vellikakath Sankaran Achuthanandan grew up seeing poverty in his family as well as around him. His early childhood was filled with traumatic moments as he lost his mother when he was just four and later his father at the age of 11.
Very soon, he realised that he had to earn to eat and thus dropped out of school after the seventh standard and began helping his elder brother in a tailoring shop and a coir factory.
In 1938, he began participating in trade union movements after drawing inspiration from top Marxist leaders at the time like P Krishna Pillai. Two years later, before turning 18, he became a member of the undivided Communist Party. In the 1940s, he spent time in jail for his involvement in agitations at the time mainly for rights of workers and farmers against the then princely regimes.
Meteoric rise through the ranks of CPM
Characterised by a peculiar style of speech as part of which he would often impress and stretch certain words for effect and an oratory marked by sarcasm and sharp censures, VS was able to become a crowd-puller within the party very soon. Rival Congress leaders from K Karunakaran to AK Antony to Oommen Chandy have all felt the slap of his tongue.
In 1964, when the Communist Party of India (CPI) split over certain ideological positions, VS and 31 other leaders resigned from the party’s national council to form the CPI(M). He is the only living leader from Kerala in that grouping.
His first stint in electoral politics, by contesting from the Ambalapuzha assembly constituency in native Alappuzha, in 1965 however ended in defeat by a margin of 2,327 votes. He corrected it two years later by winning by a margin of over 9,500 votes.
Along with fellow leaders like EMS Namboodiripad, AK Gopalan and EK Nayanar, VS strode a meteoric rise within the party and became one of its mass leaders who commanded influence and respect in all corners of the state. He served as the party’s state secretary for 12 years from 1980 to 1992 during which the organisation grew roots and became a safe shore especially for the working classes and the marginalised.
He served as the leader of the opposition in the assembly for a record 14 years over three terms in the 90s and early 2000s. However, his political career was marked by a shock defeat in Mararikulam constituency in 1996, a year when his party surged to record victory but his personal loss cost him the chief minister’s chair. There are many who believe that his defeat was orchestrated by his rivals within the party.
Factionalism remained a constant theme within the CPI(M) in Kerala in those years as VS and his rival Pinarayi Vijayan took opposing positions often casting the party’s national leadership in poor light.
Stint as Kerala CM from 2006-11
Armed with a non-corrupt image and his tough positions on environmental, spiritual and women’s safety issues, VS continued to remain a dominant force within the CPI(M) despite the setback in Mararikulam in 1996. Though he faced heat within the Politburo, the party could not deny him a ticket in the 2006 assembly election due to massive public support. When the LDF emerged victorious, after a lot of wrangling within the party, VS was handed the mantle of chief ministership at last.
The five-year period saw a lot of progress especially in the state’s IT and infrastructure sectors with the development of container transshipment terminal at Vallarpadam, expansion of Technopark in Trivandrum and the IT park in Kozhikode. His tenure also witnessed a major eviction drive against encroachers in the hill station of Munnar, a move that drew censure from his own party. Several welfare schemes were also executed under his leadership that helped the Left in strengthening its roots among the poor, rural population.
In the 2011 assembly elections, the success of VS’ regime was evident as the LDF secured 68 of the state’s 140 seats, just two short of the majority mark. The opposition UDF came to power under Oommen Chandy.
Though VS campaigned for the LDF even in the 2016 assembly elections at the advanced age of 93 and emerged victorious from Malampuzha constituency, the party citing his health passed the baton to Pinarayi Vijayan.
KK Rema, MLA and wife of slain Communist leader TP Chandrasekharan, told a news channel on Friday, “In the current political situation, the absence of a leader like VS is deeply felt. We have wondered if we could hear his voice. If he was a bit more healthy, he would have spoken out against this rotten administration and system. Personally, for me, he walked me back to a second innings in life.”
Source: Hindustan Times
