Hamlet with out the Prince of Denmark: Ailing VS Achuthanandan to overlook CPM state convention

By Express News Service

KOCHI: VS Achuthanandan, the one surviving member among the many 32 leaders who walked out of the CPI Central Committee in 1964 and floated the CPM, will miss the occasion state convention starting right here on Tuesday. Age and poor well being have rendered the 98-year-old warhorse bedridden forcing him to steer clear of the meet.

Express Photo

This is the primary time VS is lacking the CPM state convention and his absence has actually turned the meet to Hamlet with out the Prince of Denmark. He might need misplaced many of the battles he led inside the occasion. He might need been sidelined and marginalised like no different senior chief earlier than or after him.

Yet, the 2 letters, VS, was the focus of the CPM state conferences for lengthy. Though considerably dwarfed by the presence of E M S Namboodiripad and A Okay Gopalan within the early years, VS got here out of their shadow and emerged tall within the Eighties and 90s.

All state conferences within the final three a long time revolved round him. His agency stand towards revisionism within the CPM sparked off heated debates whereas his inflexible perspective triggered frictions that led to factionalism inside the occasion.

Despite dropping battles to realize management over the occasion on many events, VS succeeded in hogging limelight throughout the triennial meets, with all discussions and media stories hovering round his actions and utterances in addition to these criticising him. However, VS is maintaining himself up to date on the occasions on the state meet, his son V A Arunkumar stated in an FB put up.