M. Kelappan, 91, who served as the CPI(M) Kozhikode district secretary for over a decade, died here on Sunday morning. He had been admitted to a cooperative hospital in Vadakara.
One of the senior most communist leaders in Malabar, Mr. Kelappan was also a former State committee member of the CPI(M).
Born in 1928 into a poor family in Vadakara, he could not complete schooling. Mr. Kelappan started working as a land tiller at the age of 17 and, inspired by Gandhiji, joined the Congress. He was drawn to the Communist movement after the Onchiyam shootout in the late 1940s.
Organiser
Mr. Kelappan was in the forefront of organising farmers and farm labourers in Vadakara taluk and later forming a solid base for the Communist Party in Kozhikode district.
He served as the CPI(M) Kozhikode district secretary between 1991 and 2002. He was a councillor in the Vadakara Muncipality and a State functionary of the Kerala State Karshaka Thozhilali Union too.
Along with his political work, Mr. Kelappan using the pseudonym ‘M.K. Panikkotti’, wrote plays such as Daivam Niraparadhiyanu, Oru Sundaraswapnamalla, and a number of folk songs .
Sivapuram Kotta, one of his plays , was later adapted as a movie with the title Achanum Makanum. His non-fiction works include Keralathile Karshakathozhilalikal: Innale, Innu, Naale and an autobiography titled Amritasmaranakal .
Mr. Kelappan was a functionary of the the pro-Left cultural organisation, Purogamana Kalasahitya Sangham. He was cremated later in the evening.
