Veteran CPI-M leader and former Kerala chief minister VS Achuthanandan who donned the role of a corrective force in Kerala politics turned 100 on Thursday.
Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan, fondly called as VS, celebrated his 99th birthday at his son VA Arun Kumar’s residence in Thiruvananthapuram. Visitors were not allowed to extend wishes considering his health condition.
On the occasion, Achuthanandan’s son VA Arun Kumar said in his Facebook page that “Today is my father’s 99th birthday”. He also said he was blessed to be born as the son of such a great personality who is entering his 100th year
Born on 20 October 1923 in a working-class family in the Alappuzha district, VS Achuthanandan lent new meaning to Left politics in Kerala and across the country.
Born in poverty and brought up amidst adversity, he lost his mother when he was hardly four years old and his father when he was 11. Orphaned early, he was forced by circumstances to discontinue education in Class 7 and joined a tailoring shop managed by his elder brother.
“I may have been able to continue my studies without books. But I lacked the stamina to starve in school every day,” he said once when journalists asked about his discontinued education. However, he remained an ardent reader.
Achuthanandan started his political journey as a trade union activist and joined the Congress in 1938. Like most Congress leaders, he was later attracted by the ideology of communism.
He formally joined the Communist Party of India (CPI) in 1940 and was soon elected as the party’s district secretary in Alappuzha.
He had found a place for himself in the long and chequered history of the Left movement in India by being active in the Punnapra-Vayalar peasant uprising. Now, he is the sole surviving leader of the undivided CPI who boycotted the national party council in 1964 on ideological grounds to float the CPI-M.
Achuthanandan never hesitated to raise his voice whenever he spotted irregularities or breaches of rights. Over the years, he relentlessly pursued corruption cases and went after the mafia that thrived by engaging in illegal businesses involving ganja, sandalwood, and land.
He regularly stood with civil-society movements and their more significant concerns, even when they conflicted with his party’s decisions. In the process, he invited numerous disciplinary actions from the party.
For the cadres and civil society, he was always a doughty fighter. Both when in and out of power, he fought against corporates that plundered natural resources, including water and biodiversity-rich forests
He became the Chief Minister of Kerala at a record age of 84, more than 67 years after he joined the communist party as a member.
An ardent anti-corruption crusader, Achuthanandan continued to be a powerful symbol of probity and transparency in public life.He fought legal battles against several high profile political leaders — the 1994 palm oil import case against former chief minister K Karunakaran, corruption cases against former power minister R Balakrishna Pillai, the ice cream parlour sex racket of 1990s as well as the 2015 bar bribery case against former minister K M Mani are some among these most high-profile cases.
Interestingly his rival in the party, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, was his aide and helped VS during his infamous ‘Vetti niruthal (annihilation of opponents)’of 1990s Soon, Vijayan became the party secretary. But a rift emerged between both leaders sometime in 2000 which plagued the party for almost a decade.
Differences perhaps reached their peak during the CPI-M Malappuram state conference in 2004 when Vijayan defeated all of VS’s nominees in the state committee.
VS’s fight with Pinarayi Vijayan often reached extreme proportions. His targeting of Vijayan in the SNC-Lavalin corruption case resulted in his removal from the Politburo body.
Cutting across party and political lines, people from various walks of life greeted the veteran leader on his birthday.
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan said he joined the people of Kerala in wishing Achuthanandan good health and happiness.Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in his Facebook post: “Hearty wishes to dear Comrade VS, who is celebrating his 99th birthday.”
Extending greetings to VS, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh described Achuthanandan as the “titan of Kerala politics”.
“VS Achuthanandan, a titan of Kerala politics, officially turns 99 today. Many believe he’s already crossed 100. I recall my interactions with him when he was CM fondly. He was authoritative, not authoritarian. Strange today’s front page of Deshabhimani ignores this milestone,” Jairam Ramesh tweeted.