Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 21 (PTI) Marxist veteran V S Achuthanandan, who died at a hospital here on Monday, was a rebel and corrective force within his own party and never bothered about disciplinary actions.
The contradictory stand that he adopted put the party in a tough position many times, and the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader T P Chandrasekharan was one of such incidents.
Chandrasekharan, a former CPI(M) leader who had quit the party following differences with the leadership, was hacked to death by a gang while he was returning home on his bike at Onchiyam in Kozhikode on May 4, 2012.
The murder was allegedly masterminded by the local leaders of the CPI(M).
Though the party leadership adopted a stand that Chandrasekharan was a “traitor,” Achuthanandan never denounced his former party colleague.
When the party argued that the then UDF government’s move to order a CBI probe into the gruesome murder was a politically motivated one, VS supported the central agency probe and even wrote to the authorities demanding the same.
He even defied the party’s directive not to visit Chandrasekhar’s house and called on his widow K K Rema on the politically significant day of Neyyattinkara bypoll in the same year.
The slain leader’s house had witnessed highly emotional scenes on the day when VS came there.
Overcome with emotion, Rema wept bitterly, clutching Achuthanandan’s folded hands for several seconds. The poignant moment was captured in a photograph that graced the front pages of all major newspapers the following day.
Though Achuthanandan refused to speak to the media at the time, his surprise visit–and the subsequent publication of the photo–served as a political statement and a clear response to his party on the matter.
An emotional Rema, now the UDF-backed Vadakara MLA, shared the same photo on her Facebook page on Monday as a tribute to the leader, accompanied by a heartfelt note. PTI LGK KH
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