VS: The comrade who came up from penury

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The first Communist chief minister hailing from truly proletarian background in Kerala, life for the 82-year-old VS Achuthanandan has been an unending struggle not just against inequalities and injustices of a class-based society but also against the detractors in his party.

 

A quintessential 'Opposition leader' who never occupied any ministerial positions, Achuthandan is one of the few mass leaders left in the CPI (M) in Kerala after the departure of stalwarts like AK Gopalan, EMS Namboodiripad and EK Nayanar.

 

But unlike his predecessors who came from feudal aristorcratic families, Achuthanandan's has been a rise from humble beginnings to the top rungs of the party, and finally to the highest office in the state after his narrow miss in 1996.

 

A hardliner on ideological matters, Achuthanandan had often faced the charge of being a factionalist with an uncanny knack to cut to size of his rivals within the party.

 

He had always sought to give ideological colour to his battles in the party but his critics dub it as a ruse to cover up his bid to reinforce his grip in the party.

 

Achuthanandan's uncompromising positions had often made himself the target of manipulation by opponents, with his upset defeat in 1996 assembly polls going down in the annals of Kerala's history as a classic case of political deception.

 

The dramatic events in the strife-torn party in Kerala, divided into camps loyal to state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and Achuthnandan, turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the senior leader as it considerably boosted his image in people's imagination cutting through class, caste and religion.

 

While the CPI(M) stuck to its usual practice of not projecting any particular leader for the chief minister's post, this time it was evident right from the start that Achuthanandan was making it to the top slot as the whole election, had turned into a sort of referendum on his persona.

 

For long an organisational man, Achuthanandan's transformation into a popular leader largely owes to his two terms as leader of the Opposition.

 

Not confining his work within the legislature, he positioned himself in the frontline of struggles on a host of issues -- whether it is the exploitation of ground water by softdrink plants, sexual abuse of women or commercialization of education.

 

He endeared himself to activists and groups outside the humdrum politics by taking up environmental and human rights issues, waging a relentless crusade against landgrabbers and real estate sharks.

 

Though his rivals within and outside the party had sought to brand him as an 'old-timer' who would prove an hindrance to the state's development, Achuthanandan deflected the charges holding that his battles were against alienation of public assets in the name of development.

 

Velikkakath Sankaran Achuthanadan was born in a poverty-stricken backward class Ezhava family in Punnapra in Alappuzha district on October 20, 1923.

 

His mother died when he was a child and utter penury forced Achuthanandan to give up his studies while in school. He and his brother eked out a modest living by working as an assistant in a textile shop and later secured a job in a coir factory.

 

Reputed as 'Venice of the East', Alappuzha was a busy commercial town those days and a hotbed of trade unionism.

 

It did not take long for young Achuthanandan to get attracted to communism under the influence of Marxist trailblazers like P Krishna Pillai.

 

In 1939, he became a party member and was imprisoned in 1940 for taking part in the legendary Punnapra-Vayalar struggles organised by the Communist party against the feudal landlords and the oppressive 'Divan' rule in the princely state of Travancore.

 

When the Communist party was banned following the 1948 Calcutta Thesis that called for armed struggle against the new government, Achuthanandan went underground coordinating the party work in several parts of Travancore region.

 

Achuthanandan is one of the few surviving leaders who built the CPI-M in Kerala after the CPI split in 1964.

 

A member of the CPI-M politburo, Achuthanandan had served as the party's state secretary from 1980 to 1992, convener of LDF from 1996 to 2001 and leader of the opposition from 1992-96 and 2001-06.

 

Known for his spartan lifestyle and frugal habits, he is a stickler to his daily routine which accounts for his robust health despite advanced years.

 

His wife Vasumathi, a retired nurse, has always kept away from politics but a constant companion of her husband in his ups and downs in public life.