‘Comrade VS Achuthanandan’, former Kerala CM, dies at 101: Darling of masses, ruthless organiser, fiery Opp leader

He served as Kerala chief minister from 2006 to 2011, and as Opposition leader for three terms — 1991-1996, 2001-2006 and 2011-2016.

In his political life spanning eight decades, Achuthanandan became known as an icon of relentless fighting spirit. Starting from the pre-Independence period, his career has been closely interwoven with the socio-political history of modern Kerala.

A politician shaped by struggles and agitation, the Communist luminary donned different mantles in the Left movement and society at large. At different points in his life, he has been an organiser of grassroots workers, an underground revolutionary, an election manager, civil society’s conscience keeper, his party’s crowd-puller, a public interest litigant, an anti-corruption crusader, and a voice for green movements. He maintained a streak of rebellion throughout his political life.

V.S. Achuthanandan with Pinarayi Vijayan.(Express Archive)

He was CPI(M) state secretary from 1980 to 1992, the period when the state settled into coalition politics. He also served as convener of the Left Democratic Front from 1996 to 2000.

Born on October 20, 1923, at Punnapra village in Alappuzha district, Achuthanandan lost his mother, Accamma, when he was just four and his father, Sankaran, when he was 11.

The first break in his political career came in 1940, when he joined a coir factory in Alappuzha.. (Express Archives)

The next year, he dropped out of class 7 and started working at elder brother Gangadharan’s tailoring shop, which regularly saw locals dropping in for informal chats on politics.

Over the years, he developed an interest in politics himself, and joined the Travancore State Congress. After he turned 17, he became a member of the undivided Communist Party of India (CPI).

The teen communist was deputed to work among the fishermen, toddy-tappers and coconut tree climbers of Alappuzha, his home district.

The first break in his political career came in 1940, when he joined a coir factory in Alappuzha. There, Communist leader Comrade P Krishna Pillai urged him to bring the workers closer to the movement and urge them to fight for their rights.

The teen communist was deputed to work among the fishermen, toddy-tappers and coconut tree climbers of Alappuzha. (Express Archives)

The Punnapra-Vayalar uprising of October 1946 was another defining event in the making of the organiser in VS. He spurred coir workers to fight against the plan of Travancore Diwan C P Ramaswami Iyer for an independent state, separated from the Indian Union. At the behest of the party, he went underground to evade arrest by the Diwan’s police. While hiding in Poonjar, he was nabbed by police and was subjected to brutal torture. He was later imprisoned for nearly five years during and after the Independence struggle.

In the meantime, Achuthanandan had risen through the ranks to the leadership of the CPI. He became a member of the CPI State Committee in 1954, and three years later, was promoted to the State Secretariat.

When the first Communists government took office in Kerala in 1957, Achuthanadan headed the party in unbifurcated Kollam district, winning nine out of 11 Assembly seats in the elections. Realising his ability to run the campaign machinery, the party dispatched Achuthanandan, then 35, to manage the 1958 by-election held at the high ranges of Devikulam in Idukki.

When the CPI was divided in 1964 as a fallout of the prolonged inner-party struggle over political strategy, VS was one of the 32 national council members to walk out of the meeting, leading to the formation of the CPI(M). The others included Joyti Basu, A K Gopalan, EMS Namboodiripad, Harkishen Singh Surjeet, and E K Nayanar.

VS tried to start his legislative career during the 1965 Assembly election, contesting from the Ambalapuzha constituency, but lost. However, in 1967 and 1970, he won from the same seat.

During the Emergency, he was arrested and jailed for 21 months.

In 1980, when the state turned into a laboratory for coalition politics, VS was elected as state secretary of the CPI(M) — a post he held for 12 years until 1992.

Achuthanandan with former Andhra Pradesh CM Rajshekhar Reddy in 2007. (Express Archives)

His time as party state secretary was marked by traits of uncompromising political stubbornness. In 1986, M V Raghavan, then a powerful leader from the party citadel of Kannur, was ousted for his efforts to get the Muslim League to join the Left Front. In 1994, VS was again instrumental in the dismissal of firebrand leader K R Gouri Amma.

In 1991, Achuthanandan became the Leader of the Opposition. However, while the party returned to power in 1996, he lost the election in party stronghold Mararikulam in Alappuzha in a shock result.

The electoral setback of 1996 and the failure to retain the post of party state secretary after 1992 left Achuthanandan fighting multiple battles within the party in the following years.

In the state conference held in 1998, VS virtually decimated a rival group in the party’s trade union wing, CITU, demonstrating that he retained his clout to dictate terms within the party.

Changing equations led to a redrawing of battle lines within the party, and for around 15 years starting from the early 2000s, CPI(M) saw recurring bouts of a feud between Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan. The power struggle between the two giants of the party came with undercurrents of personal animosity and ideological differences.

With every passing year, Achuthanandan was losing ground in the party to Vijayan. However, in civil society, Achuthanandan was winning hearts, emerging as a crowd puller and championing several social issues.

His term as the Leader of Opposition between 2001 and 2006 was a watershed moment for VS’s political career. From being known as a ruthless Communist, he transformed into a darling of the masses. VS plunged into every social issue, toured across the state, visited the sites of agitations and stood with mass sentiments on all issues.

CPIM leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee with Achuthanandan (Express Archives)

In the 2006 Assembly elections, the octogenarian was instrumental in ensuring a landslide victory for the Left Democratic Front.

He was made chief minister, and his term was a stormy one, with the government being buffeted by intra-party bickering and conflicting stands on policy matters. Even as Achuthanandan resurrected his image as a crusader against social evils and corruption, all those who stood with the CM in the party were either silenced or shunted out.

In the 2011 elections, too, VS led the LDF to a photo finish, leaving the Congress with 72 seats in the 140-strong Assembly. In 2016, at the age of 92, VS was in the election fray, leading the LDF’s campaign. Despite age not being on his side, VS longed for another innings at the helm in the event of an LDF win.

However, it was Vijayan who the party picked as chief minister in 2016. VS was given Cabinet rank and accommodated as the chairman of the state Administrative Reforms Commission from 2016 to 2021.

As a legislator from Malampuzha constituency between 2001 to 2021, VS had been an active presence in the state Assembly until he fell ill in 2019.