India's most senior communist leader and former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan has passed away

Thiruvananthapuram: India's most senior communist leader and former Chief Minister of Kerala V.S. Achuthanandan has passed away. 

V.S. Achuthanandan, the former Chief Minister of kerala, who was admitted to the intensive care unit of SUT Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram following a heart attack, was unable to return to normal. VS died while receiving treatment with the help of a ventilator. 

VS Achuthanandan was 101 years old when he died. VS Achuthanandan was the most popular Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition in Kerala. VS, who served as a member of the Politburo of the CPI(M) and State Secretary, was literally the political face of the struggling Kerala. He is also remembered as the last leader who came out of the National Council of the undivided Communist Party and was at the forefront of forming the CPI(M). An era of working class political struggles that took place in Travancore and later in united Kerala has also come to an end with VS's demise.

Sankaran Achuthanandan (VS) was born in 1923 in the Venthalathara house in Punnapra to Shankaran and Akkamma. VS Achuthanandan had a difficult childhood. By the time he was eleven years old, VS had lost both his father and mother to smallpox. Later, he lived in the shadow of his sister and other relatives. Due to the hardships of life, VS had to drop out of school in the seventh grade. Later, he helped in his brother's jute shop. He helped in the jute shop. He became interested in the activities of the Communist Party when he joined the Aspinwall Coir Factory as a worker. At the age of 17, he became a member of the then banned Communist Party. VS Achuthanandan, who was a coir factory worker at that time, became part of the labor struggles in Travancore after attending the party classes of P Krishna Pillai, R Sugathan, and C Unniraja.

When the farmers' rights struggles in the Kuttanad paddy fields were strong under the leadership of the Communist Party, VS took a leading role in organizing the farm workers. Later, VS also took a leading role in the labor strikes that took place in Punnapra and Vayalar. VS, who was taken into custody following the Punnapra Vayalar strike, faced severe police beatings.

Before the formation of Aikya Kerala, VS was appointed as the Alappuzha Divisional Secretary of the Undivided Communist Party in 1952. In 1956, he became the Alappuzha District Secretary of the Undivided Communist Party. In 1959, he was elected as a member of the party's National Council. In 1964, when 32 leaders who had left the CPI's National Council formed a new party, VS became one of the founding leaders of the CPI(M). VS Achuthanandan, who was a member of the CPI(M) Central Committee, was elected as a member of the Politburo in 1985. From 1980 to 1992, VS Achuthanandan contested for the first time for the state assembly in 1965, but was defeated in Ambalappuzha. Later, in 1967 and 1970, he won from Ambalapuzha, but in 1977, Ambalapuzha again gave up on Achuthanandan. Later, in 1991, VS entered the electoral arena. At that time, VS contested as the Chief Ministerial candidate from Mararikulam. The sudden death of Rajiv Gandhi in 1991 was a setback for the Left Front, which was expecting to continue in power. VS Achuthanandan, who won from Mararikulam, was later elected as the Leader of the Opposition in 1992. 

Later, in 1996, the Left Front came to power, but VS Achuthanandan was defeated in Mararikulam. VS Achuthanandan's defeat was a continuation of the CPI(M) factionalism. Later, in 2001, VS was elected from Malampuzha, but the UDF government came to power at that time. With that, VS again became the Leader of the Opposition. In 2006, VS became the Chief Minister of Kerala for the first time by winning from Malampuzha. Later in 2011, he was re-elected from Malampuzha, but the Left Front lost the next term due to a shortage of a handful of seats. VS Achuthanandan was again elected as the Leader of the Opposition. In 2016, VS was re-elected from Malampuzha, but Pinarayi Vijayan was appointed as the Chief Minister by the CPI(M) Politburo. He was the Secretary.

VS, who served as the CPI(M) state secretary, politburo member, opposition leader and chief minister, is also notable for the internal party struggles he waged within the party. VS has been subject to party disciplinary action several times for his different stances. When MV Raghavan came forward with an alternative manifesto while he was the party's state secretary, and later when MV Raghavan challenged the CPI(M) and left the party, it was VS's strategic interventions that kept the party strong along with the official stance. At this stage, VS was able to lead the CPI(M) with strength even when many important leaders left the party. Later, in the 1992 Kozhikode session, EK Nayanar contested for the post of secretary and defeated VS, which was the beginning of factionalism in the CPI(M).

In the two subsequent conferences, VS cut the wings of the faction that opposed him. For this reason, VS had to accept the party's warning. Later, when Pinarayi Vijayan became the party secretary with VS's support, another period of factionalism began that followed the CPI(M) for about a decade and a half. The struggles that VS waged in support of a change in party policy were the most tense period of internal party struggles in the history of the CPI(M). That factionalism had even grown to the point where Politburo members VS Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan were directly engaged in arguments. 

The factionalism had reached its peak in the 2004 Malappuram conference. The move made by the VS faction in Malappuram to capture the party was foiled by the official faction. But VS was not ready to back down. While he was the Chief Minister, VS was again subjected to disciplinary action. VS, who was removed from the party's Politburo as part of disciplinary action, was later unable to return to the PB. Although there were rumors of his leaving the party at various times, there is no other person in the history of the Communist Party like VS, who fought without internal party struggles reaching the point of destroying the party.