The revolutionary that always raged within C.K. Chandrappan would have let out not more than a wry smile at the overwhelming response the procession bearing his mortal remains evoked alongside the streets of Alappuzha, as he journeyed towards a final destination that had more of his genre resting there.
The long cavalcade of vehicles, the long list of known faces that were accompanying him from Thiruvananthapuram, the long line of people from all walks of life who turned out to pay their last tributes to a man who spoke in a language alien to many politicians of his era – the final journey of the late CPI leader was one that broke all schedules just because of the crowds that thronged the spots where the procession halted, be it at the KPAC, Kayamkulam, Haripad, Ambalapuzha, the CPI’s District Committee office in Alappuzha or in his hometown of Vayalar in Cherthala.
Though the procession reached Alappuzha not more than an hour behind schedule, the journey to Cherthala and back was thrown completely off schedule due to the long line of people who poured in to pay tributes. The funeral, which was slated to be at 6 p.m., began only after 9 p.m.
CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan, Gurudas Dasgupta, D. Raja, Annie Raja, Pannian Ravindran, C. Diwakaran, K.E. Ismail, Binoy Viswom, JSS leader K.R. Gouri, Socialist Janata Dal State president M.P. Veerendrakumar, Punnapra-Vayalar veteran P.K. Chandranandan, former minister T.M. Thomas Isaac and CPI (M) State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, who had cancelled programmes at Neeleswaram and reached Alappuzha nearly three hours before the procession arrived, were among those who paid floral tributes to the departed leader.
The final resting place for Mr. Chandrappan, the Punnapra-Vayalar Martyrs’ Memorial at Valiya Chudukad, was decked up for him on Thursday itself. A person who unfailingly made it to Left programmes at the venue, Mr. Chandrappan was among speakers at programmes held at the same venue on October 27 last year, for the Punnapra-Vayalar Uprising commemoration, and also on August 19, for the P. Krishna Pillai Memorial meeting.
At Valiya Chudukad, the name of Mr. Chandrappan is now the latest on a long list that boasts of Communist stalwarts like P. Krishnapillai, T.V. Thomas, S. Kumaran, M.N. Govindan Nair, R. Sugathan, P.T. Punnoose, George Chadayanmuri, C.K. Keshavan, C.G. Sadashivan and M.T. Chandrasenan. A unique league that just got richer on Friday.
