CPI(M) Tamil Nadu state committee organised a memorial meeting to pay homage to Comrade Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on October 3 at Kerala Samajam, Chennai. 

Senior CPI(M) leader T K Rangarajan said that the Kannur district was in the forefront of the communist movement in Kerala from where many leaders like Ananthan Nambiar, V P Chintan, Sadaiyan Govindan, E K Nayanar, Pinarayi Vijayan and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan came into the movement. 

He said that the district is fighting communal forces like the RSS and other Hindutva outfits for the last 40 years and sacrificed more than 300 comrades in that struggle.  In strengthening the Left movement, a big role was played by Comrade Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.

CPI(M) Tamil Nadu state secretary K Balakrishnan said that we all have to learn many qualities  from Comrade Kodiyeri. His strong and mature leadership was one of the reasons for the LDF to come back to power for the second time in the state. He recalled Comrade Kodiyeri’s periodic intervention in fulfilling the needs of Tamil Nadu such as the release of water to the Siruvani river near Coimbatore. “We all have to learn from him about how to approach and handle the issues confronting the people.” he said.

A K Padmanabhan, chairman of Central Control Commission recalled that Comrade Kodiyeri developed his leadership qualities from a very early age when he was elected as the president of the Students’ Union of a college in Mahe. “The responsibility of the leadership in the communist movement is to be close to the people. In that respect, he was a people’s leader who rose in position from an area committee secretary to Polit Bureau member. We have lost a leader who has worked hard for nearly 50 years to bring the Party very close to the people in Kerala,” he said.

P Sampath, Central Committee member, said that Comrade Kodiyeri hailing from a very humble background became a leader of the people inspiring lakhs of Party comrades along the way.

CPI state deputy secretary Na. Periyasamy said that it is not easy to get elected to the state legislature five times and to unite other political parties in the state and lead them as one entity.  His life has given us the courage to defeat the communal, casteist and chauvinistic forces in the country, Periyasamy said.

DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan said Comrade Kodiyeri Balakrishnan worked tirelessly to safeguard the socio-economic security of the people.

Leader of Tamil Nadu Congress legislature group Ku.Ka. Selvaperunthagai said that Comrade Kodiyeri has lent effective leadership in thwarting the nefarious attempts of Hindutva. He also recalled that as a home minister Comrade Kodiyari will be remembered as the one who put a full stop to custodial deaths in Kerala.

The spokesperson of MDMK Andharidas said that Comrade Kodiyeri effectively fulfilled his responsibilities and left a deep impression in history as a legislator, as a home minister, as CPI(M) state secretary and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and that it is our duty to follow in his footsteps to fulfil his ideals.

At the beginning of the condolence meeting, a minute of silence was observed in memory of Comrade Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.