The Hindu : National : CPI(M) leader P. Ramachandran dead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 09, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

CPI(M) leader P. Ramachandran dead

Special Correspondent

P. Ramachandran

CHENNAI: Veteran leader of the CPI(M) and former member of the party’s Polit Bureau, P. Ramachandran, died on Tuesday after a brief illness. He was 83.

In its condolence message, the Polit Bureau said that in his death the party had lost a valuable leader. “PRC, as he was known, was a comrade who endeared himself to all. While adhering to Marxism-Leninism, he always sought to imbibe new ideas and integrate them into his ideological outlook,” the Polit Bureau said. Tamil Nadu Chief Minster M. Karunanidhi condoled his death.

Polit Bureau members P. Ramachandran Pillai, K. Varadharajan, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who is also the Home Minister of Kerala, CPI(M) Tamil Nadu secretary N. Varadarajan, senior leaders R. Umanath, N. Sankaraiah, Papa Umanath and CPI leaders R. Nallakannu and D. Pandian paid their homage to PRC at the party’s North Chennai district office. His body was cremated at the Otteri burial ground.

PRC was born in Tellicherry in 1925. His father, Sankara Menon, was an advocate who appeared for the communists in several cases in Malabar. His mother, Padmavathy, and all his aunts were educated in convents. “The progressive ideas of my parents played a major role in shaping my political leaning,” PRC had recalled in an autobiography Oru Communistin Ninaivu Kuripukal (Memoirs of a Communist).

He began his political activity as a young student when he joined the All-India Students Federation in 1939. Participating in the struggle for independence, he joined the Communist Party in 1941, when he was 16. An outstanding student, PRC stood first in the SSLC examination in Malabar. Since he scored high marks in the intermediate examinations too, he was able get admissions in three colleges. He joined the Madras Christian College, but was expelled for not concentrating on his studies.

He was closely associated with the Madras Students’ Organisation. Later he joined the Presidency College to organise students, but was suspended for participating in the agitation against the attack on INA cadres.

Later, he became a full-time member of the Communist party.

After the split in the party in 1964, he joined the CPI(M). He was Tiruchi district secretary from 1964 to 1977. He served as a member of the party’s Tamil Nadu State Committee from 1964 to 1989. He also worked in the trade union movement for one and a half decades.

He was elected to the Central Committee at the 12th Congress of the party in 1985. He was elected to the Central Secretariat in 1988 and to the Polit Bureau at the 14th Congress in 1992.

He worked at the Party Centre in New Delhi for nearly two decades and made an important contribution to the organisation and party education. He spent four years in jail and three years underground.

He is survived by his wife, Janaki, sons Dr. R. Gopinath, R.Vijayashankar, Associate Editor of Frontline, and daughter Padma.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National