Slow and steady on final journey, VS Achuthanandan’s 150-km funeral procession sees massive crowds lining streets in Kerala

With crowds lining up on both sides of the road, the low-floor bus carrying his body, decorated with flowers, moved slowly along.

The procession began from the state Secretariat at around 2.30 am, and was scheduled to arrive in Alappuzha by 9 pm. However, by that time, it had only reached Mangalapuram — about 22 km from the starting point. It took over six hours for the procession to cross the city limits of Thiruvananthapuram. The destination was more than 150 km to the north.

At Kayamkulam, the land of Kerala People’s Arts Club (KPAC) — a theatrical movement that helped popularise the Communist ideology in the state — people eagerly waited for the cortege from late evening.

Makeshift tent at KPAC junction in Kayamkulam to honour V S Achuthanandan’s funeral procession. Express photo by Narayanan S

Viswanathan, an 80-year-old member of the CPI, said, “VS always stood for the people. That is why we are seeing this outpouring of emotion. He was arrested during the Emergency. He had strong connections to Kayamkulam. If I remember correctly, for a brief time, he went underground and took shelter in Kayamkulam.”

“VS was a crowd puller. I attended several election rallies where he would come and people would turn up from faraway places to just hear him talk,” Viswanathan recalled.

Johnson, 50, a Gospel preacher, came from Adoor, 30 km away. He said he has no political affiliation, but he respected Achuthanandan for his “compassion and humanity”.

“He never took the side of the wealthy and powerful, but always argued for the causes of the marginalised. Such politicians are rare these days. We may never see another VS amongst us,” said Johnson.

For Kalesh, a CPI leader and KPAC office-bearer in his 30s, Achuthanadan was the inspiration to enter politics. “He was a fighter for the causes of farmers and the downtrodden. He was a leader of the masses, and he was also an able administrator. The first agitation I participated in was when I was in Class 9, during a strike for the rights of Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) employees. The principles that VS espoused invoked the sense of justice in a generation like us and prompted us to fight for the people around us,” he said.

Sashi Kumar, a differently-abled man who has come to pay tribute to Achuthanandan. Express photo by Narayanan S

Sashi Kumar from Vaikom, who suffers from physical disabilities, arrived at the KPAC junction in Kayamkulam on a scooter fitted with a photo of Achuthanandan.

“There were three people I admired the most: Kalabhavan Mani (the Malayalam actor), Oommen Chandy and VS. Now, all three have gone,” he said. It took the persuasion from local party workers for him to abandon plans to go all the way to Thiruvananthapuram. Instead, he waited at the makeshift venue where people were slowly beginning to gather ahead of the procession’s arrival.

Among them was Arunima, a class 6 student who had come with her father. She did not know who Achuthanadan was until Monday afternoon. The relentless coverage of his death on TV channels made the girl an admirer of the man, and she was now chanting the slogan: “kanne karale VS (VS, you are our eye, our heart).”

She said she would return home only after paying tribute to him. That sentiment was shared by everyone present, as they checked the YouTube feeds of news channels for updates on the progress of the procession from Thiruvananthapuram.

Once Achuthanandan’s body reaches Alappuzha, it will be taken to his house in Punnapra. On Wednesday afternoon, the body will be taken to the Valiyachudukadu burial ground, the resting place of hundreds of martyrs of the 1946 Punnapra-Vayalar uprising against landlords and the colonial regime, and he will be cremated with state honours.