In pics: Centenarian and veteran CPI(M) leader and former Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan
Former Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan passed away at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday (July 21, 2025). He was 101.
The veteran CPI(M) leader was admitted in the hospital on June 23, 2025 after experienced breathing difficulties.
VS, as he was fondly known, was a symbol of resilience, integrity, and a century-long commitment to the working class in the State. The communist stalwart became a moral compass for the Left movement in India, and his life mirrored the evolution of communist politics in the country.
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S. MAHINSHA
V.S. Achuthanandan reading a newspaper at his residence in Thiruvananthapuram. It’s viewed that whenever VS suffered a setback within the party, he would make up for that by championing causes that endeared him to the public.
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S. GOPAKUMAR
V.S. Achuthanandan’s momentous life is a story of astonishing resilience and fortitude. He rose above the cut and thrust of provincial politics by emerging as a zealous advocate for underdogs.
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S. GOPAKUMAR
Achuthanandan was a towering and fiery presence in Kerala politics for decades. His tonal variations and the way he stretched, repeated and stressed a word or a phrase like a methodical voice artiste made him a crowd-puller.
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S. GOPAKUMAR
Former Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan greets V.S. Achuthanandan at his residence in Thiruvananthapuram on his 96th birthday.
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S. GOPAKUMAR
V.S. Achuthanandan initiates a three-year-girl from north India who was found by RPF personnel at the Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station, into the world of letters
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S. MAHINSHA
V.S. Achuthanandan inaugurating a solidarity meeting organised as part of the Golden Jubilee State Conference of the Kerala Gazetted Officers Association in Thiruvananthapuram.
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special arrangement
V.S. Achuthanandan in conversation with economist Venkatesh Athreya. He assiduously pursued corruption cases, one of which, the Edamalayar case, finally resulted in the conviction of the former minister R. Balakrishna Pillai.
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K.K. MUSTAFAH
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and V.S. Achuthanandan during an event in 2019. VS’ actions, often seen defiant, put the party on the defensive on many occasions such as his meeting with K.K. Rema, wife of the slain Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader TP Chandrasekharan in 2012.
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C. RATHEESH KUMAR
V.S. Achuthanandan in the Kerala Assembly in 2018. The Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly for some 15 years, VS, who hadn’t had high school education, was instrumental in Kerala embracing free software and introducing it in the school curriculum.
Published – July 21, 2025 04:32 pm IST
Source: www.thehindu.com