File Image
Former Kerala Chief Minister and veteran Communist Party of India-Marxist leader VS Achuthanandan, one of India’s most respected Communist figures and a key presence in Kerala’s political history, died at the age of 101, CPI-M state secretary MV Govindan said.
According to PTI, The veteran leader passed away at 3.20 pm while undergoing treatment in the critical care unit of Pattom SUT Hospital, according to an official bulletin issued by the hospital.
Achuthanandan had been receiving treatment since June 23, following a cardiac arrest.
A founding member of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Achuthanandan was a lifelong champion of workers’ rights, land reforms, and social justice.
He served as Kerala’s chief minister from 2006 to 2011 and was elected to the state assembly seven times, serving three terms as Leader of the Opposition.
Speaking to reporters at the hospital, Govindan said Achuthanandan’s body would be shifted to the AKG Study and Research Centre in Thiruvananthapuram within an hour, where party workers and the public could pay their respects.
Born on October 20, 1923, in Punnapra, a coastal village in Alappuzha district, Achuthanandan’s early life was marked by hardship and poverty.
He lost his mother at the age of four and his father while still in school, forcing him to abandon his studies after Class VII. He briefly worked in a textile shop and later as a labourer in a coir factory.
His political journey began in the 1940s, inspired by legendary Communist leader P Krishna Pillai.
In 1943, he represented Alappuzha at the Communist Party conference.
During the 1946 Punnapra-Vayalar uprising, he went underground and was later arrested and severely beaten. Believed to be dead by the police, he was about to be buried in the forest when it was discovered he was still alive and taken to the hospital.
Despite being tortured during the 1946 uprising, he returned to political activism. In 1956, he joined the party’s state committee and steadily rose to hold key national positions.
In 1964, he was among the 32 national council members who split from the Communist Party to form the CPI-M, a pivotal moment in Indian Left politics.
