Who Was VS Achuthanandan? Kerala CM, CPI(M) Rebel, ‘Last Of The Communists’ From Stalin–Mao Era

V.S. Achuthanandan, the veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and former Kerala Chief Minister, breathed his last on Monday at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram at age 101 after suffering a heart attack. Achuthanandan served as Chief Minister from 2006 to 2011 and had withdrawn from public life after suffering a minor stroke in 2019. His death marks the end of an era in Kerala's politics.

Achuthanandan embarked on his political journey at the age of 16, rallying against feudal landlords and British colonial rule in Alappuzha. As an organiser and agitator, he mobilised indentured agricultural workers and employees of the Aspinwall factory in Kuttanad, The Hindu reported. His involvement in the 1946 Punnapra-Vayalar uprising—an armed resistance led by the Left against the colonial regime—led to his arrest and brutal custodial torture. He later recounted being bayoneted in the foot and left for dead, only to be saved by a fellow detainee who noticed he was still breathing.

Born in 1923 in Punnapra, Alappuzha, to a family of agricultural labourers, Achuthanandan lost his parents early—his mother to smallpox—and endured severe poverty. He was introduced to the freedom struggle by P. Krishna Pillai, whom he called a “guru” who shaped his political ideology, as per The Hindu's report.

V.S. Achuthanandan Profile: CPI-M Founding Member & A Rebel

In 1964, he became one of the founding members of the CPI(M) after breaking away from the undivided Communist Party of India. He served as the CPI(M) State secretary and was a prominent face of the party during the Emergency, which saw him jailed by the then government.

Although a senior party leader, Achuthanandan was known for defying party discipline. In 2009, he was removed from the Polit Bureau for going against the State secretariat’s decisions. In 2012, while serving as the Leader of the Opposition, he visited K.K. Rema, the wife of slain CPI(M) rebel and Revolutionary Marxist Party leader T.P. Chandrasekharan, disregarding the party’s stance. This visit was later used by the Congress to criticise the CPI(M), which was accused of being complicit in the murder, the report stated.

He remained a committed ideologue, often criticising his own comrades for what he termed right-wing tendencies and factionalism, even as critics argued he was disconnected from modern political realities.

V.S. Achuthanandan: Advocate Of Transgender Rights, 'Last Of The Communists' From Times Of Stalin, Mao

Achuthanandan’s political career was marked by his vocal advocacy for causes such as environmental conservation, transgender rights, gender equality, nurses’ wages, and the promotion of free software. As Leader of the Opposition, he gained a reputation for standing with the underprivileged and taking up uphill public battles.

He also drew crowds with his rustic charm, humour-laced speeches, and distinctive drawl. He remained a favourite among political satirists and the general public alike. On his 100th birthday, CPI(M) leader and dramatist Pirappancode Murali remarked, “Achuthanandan is the last of the communists active in politics during the life and times of Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Che Guevara, and much beyond.”

As an avowed rationalist, Achuthanandan did not shy away from sharing his views on religion. During his tenure as Chief Minister, when a school student asked him about his favourite Hindu deity, he replied, “Like all of us, the tales of gods absorb me. But, like everybody else, I wonder whether they exist and, if so, which plane they inhabit”, as quoted by The Hindu.

He often spoke with self-deprecating humour about his impoverished youth—claiming he once stayed immersed in a temple pond until his only pair of clothes dried and surviving on leftover rice offered by the priest. He briefly worked as a tailor’s apprentice, the report stated.

Achuthanandan is survived by his wife K. Vasumathy, daughter V.V. Asha, son V.A. Arun Kumar, and grandchildren.

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