THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It was V S Achuthanandan’s wont to see divides everywhere. Where none existed, he would create one. He would position himself on one side and wage a battle. He has won some; lost some, and transformed himself in the process. His political longevity has surprised and irked many, for he was the archetypal voice of opposition – in his party and the larger society.
As CPM state secretary (1980-1992), he ruled with an iron fist. Later on, however, he transformed himself into a critical insider, waging pitched battles against power concentrated in the hands of one-time party proteges. He was a hawk, who wouldn’t budge from his notions of doctrinal purity, no matter what. That essentially meant he had to swim against the organisational tide.
Though he was one of the 32 founding leaders of CPM in 1964, his deviation from the party line began the very next year. In 1964-65, almost the entire CPM leadership was accused of being Chinese spies and jailed during the India-China war. As a prisoner at the Poojappura Central Prison, VS organised prisoners and exhorted them to donate blood for Indian soldiers. The party prison committee rejected his proposal saying it went against Marxist-Leninist principles.
Differences among party members over the issue almost reached the point of physical confrontation. Soon after their release, the party conducted an inquiry. The state committee, in 1965, demoted VS to the Alappuzha district committee from the central committee.
As party secretary, his approach earned him several enemies within the party, and outside. However, his organisational skill was evident in handling the alternative political line proposed by M V Raghavan and others at the 1985 state conference. Raghavan claimed that in order to isolate the Congress, the CPM would have to align with the Muslim League. CPM faced the biggest internal challenge since its formation during this period as there was an assumption that the party would split. However, EMS and VS joined hands to successfully isolate Raghavan. The episode also led to the rise of Pinarayi Vijayan in Kannur politics.
VS tasted his first major political setback in 1991 when he was defeated from Mararikulam constituency by a little-known Congress candidate. It was evident that some within the party had played a role in the sabotage as he was gunning for chief ministership. At the Kozhikode CPM state conference, held in 1991, E K Nayanar defeated VS by two votes to claim the state secretary post.
But, VS got even with his adversaries at the Palakkad state conference in 1998. He saw to it that the so-called ‘CITU lobby’, led by leaders like M M Lawrence and K N Raveendranath, suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of his hatchet men.
The events in Palakkad marked his own rise to supremacy in CPM, which was short-lived as his closest lieutenants, most prominently Pinarayi, who was named state secretary with his blessings, turned against him. Waging a crusade against corruption and environmental issues, VS built a support base outside CPM as his clout within started to wane.
The friction between VS and the leadership reached its peak at the Malappuram state conference in 2005 where he decided to challenge the official panel. His 12 confidants were defeated. He was also removed as editor of CPM mouthpiece Deshabhimani. In the 2006 assembly election, the leadership decided against fielding him. They relented only after an outcry from party workers and supporters.
He went on to win from Malampuzha and become chief minister. In 2007, a public spat between him and Pinarayi over alleged support he received from a ‘media syndicate’ led to the ouster of both from the PB. Though the two were later reinducted, VS was again removed from the PB on July 11, 2009 for taking an anti-party stand in the SNC-Lavalin case, involving Pinarayi. VS never returned to the PB. In 2007, VS and Paloli Mohammed Kutty were publicly censured for a confrontation over accepting ADB loans for local bodies.
The murder of his associate and RMP leader T P Chandrasekharan on May 4, 2012 opened a new chapter in the internal fight. VS went to the extent of saying Pinarayi would meet the same fate as S A Dange, the general secretary of undivided CPI who was expelled from the party. This also invited public censure from the leadership. On the eve of the Neyyattinkara assembly by-election, he visited the house of the slain RMP leader. The party lost the bypoll.
His complaints to the leadership also became a headache. On the eve of the Alappuzha state conference in 2015, the state committee passed a resolution accusing VS of anti-party activities. He dismissed the allegations and remained defiant. In response, the party kept VS out of the new state committee.
In the 2016 election, though VS led the campaign along with Pinarayi, the central leadership had made up its mind on who should be the next CM. It was the start of the Pinarayi era in legislative politics. The PB deputed then general secretary Sitaram Yechury to convince VS, who relented. On its part, the party showered him the enviable sobriquet: Fidel Castro of Kerala.