Thiruvananthapuram: The passing of V.S. Achuthanandan, veteran communist stalwart and former Chief Minister of Kerala, has left a void in the ideological bloodstream of Kerala’s Left politics. Reactions from leaders across the political spectrum echoed the irreplaceable role VS played in shaping not just a party, but the political morality of a state.
LDF convenor and senior CPI(M) leader TP Ramakrishnan expressed profound sorrow, describing VS’s death as a severe jolt to the Communist Party and the Left Democratic Front. “Even in his final years, weakened by illness, Comrade VS was never absent from the people’s conscience. He remained a voice of resistance, always intervening on issues that mattered, always upholding the legacy of class struggle,” he reflected.
Public Works Minister P.A. Mohammed Riyas remembered VS not as just a leader, but as the lifeblood of the party through every phase of its evolution. “From his early days in the underground to leading the government and later the Opposition, VS embodied continuity and commitment. His interventions were not just political they were moral signposts for the state,” Riyas observed.
CPI(M) State Secretary MV Govindan struck an emotional chord, declaring that the state had lost the architect of the communist movement in Kerala and beyond. “He did not merely walk with history he built it, brick by brick, with his blood, sweat, and ideology,” Govindan said.
Lok Sabha MP K Radhakrishnan recalled the ferocity with which VS championed the cause of the marginalized. “He stood up for farmers when they were treated as slaves of the system. VS's voice pierced the silence of exploitation,” he noted.
In a deeply personal tribute, RMP MLA K K Rama called VS “a comrade of light in times of personal darkness.” On social media, she reminisced about VS being her moral anchor when “helplessness overwhelmed and the world turned away.” Her message painted the image of a leader who transcended party lines through empathy.
Opposition Leader V D Satheesan praised VS for the rare political virtue of standing firm without fostering personal enmity. “He personified opposition in its noblest form relentless, principled, yet devoid of venom,” Satheesan said. He credited VS with giving environmental movements and civil resistance a commanding presence in Kerala’s political theatre.
VS Achuthanandan’s farewell has not just marked the passing of a leader it has marked the fading of an era where ideology walked with simplicity, and resistance wore a human face.