CHENNAI: CPI leader R Nallakannu’s entire life stands as a shining example of uncompromising integrity.
In May 2019, in what appeared to be an act of bureaucratic apathy, the veteran leader was asked to vacate the rental apartment allotted to him by the Tamil Nadu Housing Board in T Nagar as the building had to be demolished for reconstruction.
Nallakannu, a freedom fighter and a politician for decades with friendly relations with chief ministers and all senior political party leaders, did not try to exert any influence to either complain or avail alternative accommodation. The leader, who was 93 then and had lost his wife three years earlier, quietly vacated the house where he had lived since 2007 by paying a monthly rent of Rs 5,700. He moved in with one of his daughters, who lived in a rented house in KK Nagar.
The incident, after it came to light, caused public and political outcry. When media asked Nallakannu about the incident, he acknowledged that it was agonising, but added that he did not have any issue with government not allotting another house for him. However, he insisted that the government provide alternative housing for the family members of late Congress minister P Kakkan who were also evicted.
The way the leader handled the incident was typical of how he conducted himself all through his public life. Politics, for him, was never about grabbing power or enriching himself — it was a means to organise, mobilise, and fight for the voiceless.
Born on December 25, 1925, in Srivaikundam in present-day Thoothukudi district to Ramasamy and Karuppayi as the third of the couple’s nine children, Nallakannu witnessed poverty and exploitation firsthand. In an interview published in a commemorative issue brought out by the CPI to mark his 80th birthday, he said his elder brother Muthuramalingam, who was inclined towards the Congress, was an early influence on him.
After participating enthusiastically in demonstrations organised against the British Raj during his teen age, he gradually got attracted to the communist movement following his interactions with the leaders of the trade union that was active in the Harvey Mills in Thoothukudi.
In 1948, when the CPI was banned, he was arrested along with several other leaders while being underground in the Nellai Conspiracy Case, which was filed for alleged conspiracy to destabilise the government. He remained in jail for seven years, during which he suffered brutal torture. In one particular incident, a policeman burnt his moustache with a cigarette. Nallakannu would never be able to grow a moustache after that.
He fought tirelessly in particular for farmers and agricultural labourers. He opposed exploitative landlords in his early years as part of his party’s struggle towards land reforms, fought against casteist oppression. In the interview, he recalled being beaten up for taking people of different castes along a few streets in Nanguneri where people from certain castes were barred from entering.
His marriage to Ranjitham, a school teacher, was an inter-caste wedding.
He fought persistently towards protecting natural resources and remained a staunch advocate for protecting the environment.
Even as he rose through the ranks of the CPI, serving for 13 years as state secretary from 1992 to 2005, he led a modest life and remained accessible to all. His impeccable integrity earned him respect from even political leaders opposed to the CPI.
His life is a legacy
December 25, 1925: R Nallakannu was born in Srivaikundam in present-day Thoothukudi district, into an agricultural family, when the landmark 1925 Kanpur Conference, considered to be the birth of CPI, was coincidentally under way 2500 km away
1937–1938: As a school student, he took part in activities against the British Raj
1937: Campaigned for the Congress during the provincial elections
1938: Supported workers of the Harvey Mills strike
1944: Joined the CPI. Later worked with the party’s Tamil daily Janasakthi and began organising agricultural labourers
1949–1956: Arrested in the Nellai Conspiracy Case and sentenced to life imprisonment. Spent seven years in jail before his sentence was commuted when K Kamaraj was CM
June 5, 1958: Married Ranjitham Ammal, a school headmistress and activist, in an inter-caste wedding
1966: Led a 11-day hunger strike at Ambasamudram demanding irrigation facilities for farmers
1967: Organised a 12-day hunger strike at Nochikulam in Thoothukudi, seeking land rights for marginalised farmers
1969: Travelled to East Germany and the Soviet Union as part of a CPI peasant delegation to study agricultural systems
1973: Attended a three-month Marxist training programme in Moscow
1992–2005: Served as CPI Tamil Nadu state secretary for 13 years
1999: Contested the Lok Sabha election from Coimbatore as a CPI candidate and lost to BJP’s CP Radhakrishnan
2000: Led protests against illegal sand mining in the Thamirabarani river
2005: Returned Rs 1 crore and a car collected by party cadre for his birthday back to the party
2007: Received the Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Award. Donated the prize money to party and union activities
2010: Madras HC ruled against sand mining in Thamirabarani in a case, in which Nallakannu was a party and argued in person
2016: Wife Ranjitham died in Chennai at the age of 82
2019: Asked to vacate TNHB house allotted to him. Moved out of the house. Incident caused public outcry
2022: Received the Tamil Nadu ‘Thagaisaal Tamilar’ award and donated the Rs 15 lakh prize money, along with Rs 5,000 of his own, to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund
2025: On December 26, 2025, he marked his 101st birthday, which coincided with the CPI’s centenary year. The party organised commemorative events in Chennai in his honour