Blog: Communist Giant VS Achuthanandan Turns 100
Kerala’s veteran Communist leader and former Chief Minister turns 100 today, and it’s not just a ‘Happy Birthday’ event, but an awe-inspiring unfold of a century-long ups and downs of India’s southern-most coastal zone’s political sphere and social life.
Dear comrade… Beloved VS… A Political Stalwart… A Communist textbook… Rebellious leader… Pilot of environmental campaigns and women’s safety… A a seven-time legislator… The 11th Chief Minister of Kerala… Three-time CPM secretary… And three-time Opposition leader. There is no boundary, Achuthanandan is more than these descriptions.
Velikakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan, popularly known as VS Achuthanandan or simply VS is a senior political leader from Kerala and acted a crowd-puller even in the catastrophic times of Communist Party in and out of the State. He was a constant figure and active participant of the party campaigns and gatherings even in his late 90’s. A respected leader even by the party”s central commands and rival parties, and a disquiet activist for the unbroken lifetime…
VS, the great orator is well-famous even for children with his distinctive style and intonation. After an unfavorable childhood, where he encountered several struggles, became an admirer of Communist movements and raised the red flag in tight clutch. From a tailor and a coir factory worker, VS later behoved to the seat of the stalwart of the working class in Kerala – a trade unionist turned Chief Minister.
VS Achuthanandan – the senior-most leader of CPI(M) in India – was born on October 20 in 1923 to Sankaran and Accamma in Alappuzha’s Punnapra, a place known as the rice bowl of Kerala and a strong-hold of the Communist party due to a series of protests and struggles associated with the coir industries and better wage demands. He lost his mother when he was four years old, and father when he was aged 11. VS was forced to quit studies at Class 7 and started working with his brother as a tailor. He later joined a coir factory and engaged in job of meshing coir to make ropes.
The year 1938 marked VS’s entry into the political domain, when he joined trade union activities and became a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) after two years in 1940. He was sent to jail for five years and six months and went concealed himself for four and a half years. VS befitted the position of a state secretariat member of the CPI in 1957 and left the party’s National Council in 1962 to form the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
The atheist commander was in the forefront of the land struggles kicked off with the Alappuzha declaration in 1970, in demand of implementing the Land Reforms Act 1967 passed by the EMS government (first elected government of Kerala). He functioned as the Secretary of the Kerala State Committee between 1980 and 1992, and was a member of the CPI(M) Polit Bureau since 1985 until being removed from the position following a party disciplinary action in 2009.
In 2006, at the age of 82, VS assumed the office of the Chief Minister of Kerala – the oldest person to chair – and served the state being in the position from 2006 to 2011. VS is also a former three times Leader of the Opposition of Kerala state – 1992-1996, 2001-2006, and 2011-2016. From the time period of August 2016 to January 2021, the master leader constituted the place of 4th Chairman of the Kerala Administrative Reforms Commission.
Achuthanandan won the assembly elections in 1967 and 1970 from the Ambalappuzha State Assembly constituency, in Alappuzha. He lost the seat in 1965 and 1977. He contested from the Mararikulam constituency in 1991 and 1996, in which the 1991 was a win of almost ten thousand vote-lead. From 2001, he outstanded Malampuzha, one of the state legislative assembly constituencies included in the Palakkad Lok Sabha constituency, and secured four consecutive terms including 2001 and continued it to the 2016 elections.
The champion – a seven-time legislator, the 11th Chief Minister of Kerala, three-time CPM secretary, and three-time Opposition leader – was the key player of historic and highly controversial Munnar eviction drive against the illegal encroachments despite all the encounters even that came from his cabinet.
The introduction of Paddy and Wetland Act in 2008 was another vital milestone. The demolition drive in Kochi MG Road, which claimed back the long-lost shoulder of the road, anti- film piracy and lottery mafia drives marked the captain in Achuthanandan. He promoted free software in the public education system of the state and acted an instrumental character in convicting former minister R Balakrishna Pillai on charges of corruption.
Being the most rigid CPM leader of the time, he met a lot of internal strife but stood in the front for mass campaigns, even discharging the collective party opinions, like the Mathikettan issue, Koodamkulam agitation, and Pembilai Orumai. VS was adamant to go at any extent in his legal and political fights and is evident in his head-to-head conflicts with former minister R Balakrishana Pillai, MLA PK Kunhalikutty, and SNDP leader Vellappally Nateshan.
But the journey was not easy-going as he met several allegations and criticisms on the way. In 2009, he was removed from the CPI(M) Polit Bureau and Central committee for the stands he took in relation with the accusation and legal procedures against the incumbent Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in his reported involvement in the Lavlin bribery. In 2013, three of VS’s personal staff’s were removed on charges of leaking information to the media. With this Mr Vijayan came to light and appears to have won.
VS”s statement on Islamization of Kerala sparked a huge controversy inside and outside the state in 2010. While addressing the media in New Delhi, he said that the Popular Front, then alleged for chopping off the hand of a college lecturer, was taking part in communal and divisive activities with the aim of turning Kerala into a Muslim majority state.
VS Achuthanandan is not part of any epoch, he himself is an era defining decades of Left politics in the state, with adamant commitments and conclusions on every matter he come across with. The major, all-time developmental projects of Kerala – including the International Container Trans-shipment Terminal in Vallarpadam, the Technopark in Kollam, Infopark in Cherthala, Kannur International Airport, Kochi Metro Rail and many more – has connections with VS and the government led by him, either proposed, structured, or implemented.
VS: Man of Records
- The only living Keralite among the 32 members who left the CPI’s National Council in 1962 to form the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
- The senior-most leader of CPI(M) in India.
- The eldest member ever in the Kerala Legislative Assembly. He was 97 years-old when stepping down as a legislator, surpassing the record set by KR Gouri Amma.
- The eldest ever to become the Chief Minister of Kerala. He was 82 while taking office on May 18, 2006.
- The longest serving Opposition leader of Kerala. He held the post for 14 years.
