He doesn’t sport a moustache though it is the norm for men in Tamil Nadu. For Communist party of India (CPI) veteran R Nallakannu, it is not because of any aversion but due to the torture in prison on being arrested in the Tirunelveli Conspiracy case foisted against CPI leaders in 1949. Tortured in prison, his moustache was burnt with cigarettes and on walking out of jail in 1956 he gave up sporting it again.

On a day when the Communist Party of India (CPI) celebrates 100 years, in a remarkable coincidence, party veteran R Nallakannutoo turned hundred on Boxing Day. Born in an affluent family at Srivaikundam in present day Thoothukudi district, he is a Spartan in lifestyle having joined the CPI at age of 17 while studying at the Hindu College, Tirunelveli.

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At the time of his arrest, he was only 23. Then, the CPI was banned and had launched armed struggle in Telangana (1948-49) and was preparing for similar upsurge in other parts following the party’s Calcutta Congress resolution decrying independence as a mere transfer of power. As he had gone underground and stayed among Dalit agricultural labourers, the police caught him after a long strenuous search at Puliyurkurichi near Nanguneri in Tirunelveli district.

“He was sentenced to life and was released in 1956, after serving seven years in Madurai Central Prison. But, he never talks about the torture he had endured in independent India. Instead he used to speak more about the hardships and violence faced by other comrades in prison. His simple lifestyle and austerity was an option and not one borne out of poverty,” says party state assistant secretary M Veerapandian.

The swadeshi movement of VO Chidambaram Pillai had an impact on him and his political activism started during the famed Harvey Mills strike in Thoothukudi in the early 1930s. As a student, he along with his friends collected rice from households for distribution to the families of the striking workers. Then, he campaigned for the Congress in the 1937 provincial elections.

“When independence appeared close at hands, many landlords had joined the Congress. Nehru’s writings on communism and Russia impressed me. One of my school teachers, Balavesam Chettiar, used to speak about communism. All these turned me towards the CPI,” Nallakannu had said in an interview.

He played a crucial role in building up the farmers’ movement in Tamil Nadu and served as the party’s state secretary for 13 years. From his early years in the party, he had fought against caste oppression and advocated inter-caste marriages. Being dark skinned, many consider him to be a Dalit though he is not. His marriage was an inter-religious one as his wife Ranjitham was a Christian but daughter of a party leader.

In the caste violence and riots that engulfed the southern districts of Tamil Nadu in the late 1990s following the christening of a state transport corporation after Sundaralingam, a Dalit and a general of Veerapandiya Kattabomman, the poligar who fought against the British East India Company, his father-in-law was also murdered. However, he undertook a padayatra to bring communal harmony in the strife torn districts.

A leader respected by all political parties, transcending ideological barriers, he is known for his integrity. When the party collected and presented him Rs One crore along with a car on his 80th birthday, he gave them back to the party. When the Tamil Nadu Government conferred him with the ‘Thagaisaal Tamilar’ (Honourable Tamil) award and a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh, he returned it to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund adding Rs 5,000 from his pocket.

What keeps him clinging to the left ideology even as the party has lost the sheen and remains an alliance partner of the DMK. “Socialism is inevitable and it is the future. Someday, society will embrace it,” he says.