A Life of Struggles
M A Baby
COMRADE V S Achuthanandan was the oldest living communist in India. The unprecedented sea of humanity that flowed in to pay their last respects to the veteran revolutionary is beyond description. Elderly men and women who had the opportunity to work directly alongside him, the middle-aged who had experienced his leadership prowess, the youth who had seen him as chief minister and leader of the opposition, and even children – who, due to his recent absence from public life for health reasons, would have only known him through stories – had gathered in massive numbers on both sides of the national highway.
The 150-kilometre journey by road from Thiruvananthapuram to Alappuzha typically takes 4 to 5 hours. Considering the desire of the vast multitude who had gathered to catch a final glimpse of him, it was expected that Comrade VS's final journey along this route would be completed in 8 hours. However, the cortege reached its destination after 22 hours. The reason for this is the uncontrollably large crowds that have waited patiently through the night, defying even the heavy rain, to pay their final homage to the centenarian communist leader, their beloved VS. The extraordinary presence of women and youth was another unique feature of the gathering. Slogans hailing VS as the apple of their eye have been piercing the sky throughout the last journey!
I first saw him up close in 1970, at a political rally of the CPI(M) at the Kollam railway station ground. Back then, he had a sturdy, powerful physique. His speeches, filled with emotional intensity and forceful gestures, required great physical effort. By the end, he would be soaked in sweat, his kurta clinging to his body — a vivid image that has stayed etched in my memory. After the Emergency, I became a member of the CPI(M) Kollam district committee in the run up to the 10th Party Congress. That’s when I got to know him and his leadership much more closely. At first, I found him to be stern and coarse. But I remember one instance that revealed his willingness to accept criticism.
When Comrade E K Nayanar became chief minister in 1980, VS became Party secretary. The 1985 CPI(M) state conference in Kochi gained attention due to debates around M V Raghavan’s alternative document. But there was another key discussion; the need for Party leadership to engage more empathetically and warmly with workers at all levels. A few weeks after that conference, we were sitting in the veranda of the district committee office in Polayathode, Kollam, reading newspapers, when VS came by. Usually VS would walk straight into the district secretary’s room, as he would be coming in during a busy schedule. But that day, he broke the pattern. He greeted everyone, asked how we were, and spent a few minutes chatting with the comrades before going inside. Those who had attended the Ernakulam conference would have surely noticed this change. That moment reflected a core trait of a true communist — the readiness to introspect and transform based on criticism.
For VS, both personal and political lives were one long struggle. He was born in a poor family. His mother passed away when he was just four. He lost his father at eleven. That alone explains why he had to quit school in seventh grade. At an age when others were still in school, he was learning tailoring under his elder brother. Then he worked as a coir worker at the Aspinwall company. There, he got involved with trade union activities. By the age of 17, he joined the Communist Party. Comrade P. Krishna Pillai, the legendary organiser, entrusted a young VS with the crucial task of mobilising agricultural workers in Kuttanad. Following the Punnapra-Vayalar uprising, VS went underground and continued his work in hiding. Eventually arrested by the police, he endured brutal torture. Yet, the struggle he began in his youth did not waver – it continued with unbroken spirit until the age of 101, even from a hospital bed.
VS’s most enduring contribution to Kerala’s history of struggle was his pioneering role in organising the agricultural workers of Kuttanad, teaching them to stand tall and demand their rights. P Krishna Pillai recognised the untapped organising potential of young VS and assigned him the task of rallying the unorganised agricultural workers of Kuttanad under the red flag. Through bold and daring efforts, he laid the foundation of the agricultural workers’ movement there. Those who were forced to live like primitive animals until then, stood up straight, raised their hands and clenched their fists. The iconic slogan, ‘we are not slaves, and we will never bow again’, thundered from the paddy fields. It stands as permanent testimony to VS’s brilliance as a mass organiser. He could be trusted with any seemingly impossible responsibility – whether it was a political or organisational one – and he always delivered.
VS was among the 32 leaders who walked out of the National Council of the CPI in 1964, in protest against revisionism. In that sense too, he marked himself as a chapter in the history of the Communist movement in India that cannot be erased. From 1965 to 2016, he contested ten elections — seven victories, three defeats. But no defeat could ever break his resolve. He took up environmental issues, women’s issues and fought against all forms of injustice with a true revolutionary spirit. At one point, the media derided him. But later, the same outlets were forced to hail him as ‘the people's leader’.
Though VS had no formal higher education, it was never a limitation in carrying out his responsibilities. He learned manifold lessons through his work in the Party and the trade union movement. I had the first hand opportunity to understand how meticulously he performed, both as chief minister and opposition leader, between 2006 and 2016, when I was a member of the Kerala Legislative Assembly. Every issue that came up to him for consideration was handled with efficiency and his decision-making was sharp. One of the best examples of that is the implementation of the IT@School project in Kerala, during 2006-11 LDF government, under the leadership of VS, the then chief minister. I was the minister for education in his cabinet.
The IT@School project was launched on the basis of the ‘IT in Education: Vision 2010’ report submitted by a committee led by Prof. U R Rao, appointed by the LDF government of 1996-2001 with Comrade Nayanar as the chief minister. But, during the subsequent UDF government of 2001–06, there was widespread concern that Kerala’s IT education was being handed over to corporates like Microsoft. As the then opposition leader, VS took that issue up quite seriously. So when the LDF returned to power in 2006, it was committed to the effective use of free software technology in public education.
The 2007 IT Policy of that LDF government opened up the world of free software to Kerala. By March 2008, Kerala’s public education system had fully migrated to free software. Instead of learning about IT, students began learning through IT, across subjects. By 2008, all government and aided high schools and higher secondary schools got broadband connectivity via BSNL. The next phase of expanding broadband to primary and upper primary schools was completed by the 2016-2021 LDF government under the chief ministership of Pinarayi Vijayan.
Under the ICT@School central scheme (75 per cent centre, 25 per cent state), 1,016 schools were sanctioned in 2007–08. After evaluating the progress, another 3,055 schools were added later on. In total, 4,071 schools received Rs 270 crore worth of equipment like laptops, projectors, printers, digital cameras, TVs, and generators over five years. Hardware clinics that fixed broken computers with the help of students stood out as unique models. Despite concerns about whether free software was user-friendly or practical, the IT@School and the Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) programmes not only proved its viability but even saved the state government close to Rs 3,000 crore, according to international reports. UNICEF even called Kerala’s digital education model an example for the world – not just for the global south but for the developed nations too. It was the LDF government led by VS that played a key role in that transformation.
VS was also a brilliant strategist. In 1958, while the undivided Communist Party held its Congress in Amritsar, bye-election was underway in Devikulam. It was crucial in so far as the then EMS government in Kerala was concerned. At the Party’s request, VS skipped the Congress to lead the campaign. Even in his absence, he was elected to the National Council. When the Party candidate won in a tight contest, it was VS’s skill as an effective political organiser that made the difference. Ilaiyaraaja and his brother Gangai Amaran were also part of that campaign, singing revolutionary songs. It points to the fact that back then itself VS had understood that political struggles ought to have a cultural angle too.
It is a well acknowledged fact that Kerala’s standard of living is higher than what it is in other parts of India. Several studies have pointed to the significant role played by land reforms in achieving that. The 1957 EMS government’s initiation of the process of land reforms in Kerala, is well recognised. But, many overlook the fact that VS had helped in land reforms becoming a reality. In 1969, after the second EMS government was toppled by the Congress and its allies, the CPI(M) and kisan and agricultural workers unions launched protests demanding the implementation of land reforms. Under the aegis of the Karshaka Sangham and the Karshaka Thozhilali Union, masses were mobilised in Aravukad, Alappuzha. With VS playing the role of lead organiser, thousands of protesters gathered on December 13–14, 1969.
The then CPI(M) general secretary Comrade P Sundarayya, Polit Bureau members Comrades EMS and AKG, and Kisan Sabha leader Comrade Harekrishna Konar were in attendance. With the President denying assent to the land reform law, AKG declared that the people themselves would implement it. The subsequent struggle led by VS resulted in tens of thousands of volunteers occupying excess land across Kerala, planting red flags, and claiming ownership. From climbing coconut trees to declaring popular control, they defied police brutality, violence, arrests, and jail. 18 comrades became martyrs, including Kavalom Sreedharan, Kallikad Neelakandan and Bhargavi. Through that blood-soaked struggle, around 2.8 million tenant farmers and more than half a million landless families won ownership of land. The Aravukad protest marked a turning point in a centuries-old fight against casteist landlords. Fighting for the rights of the oppressed and exploited – that was VS’s life mission.
VS will be remembered as a remarkable chief minister, a towering mass leader, and the most formidable opposition leader Kerala has ever seen. From a tailor and coir worker, he rose through struggles to the heights of the movement and the government. In every sense, he was the embodiment of struggle. A true leader of the working class movement, he rose to the summit from the ranks of a real manual worker. A life of relentless struggle and resistance that connected the 20th and 21st centuries – that was VS.
