KOCHI: VS Achuthanandan, the only surviving member among the 32 leaders who walked out of the CPI Central Committee in 1964 and floated the CPM, will miss the party state conference beginning here on Tuesday. Age and poor health have rendered the 98-year-old warhorse bedridden forcing him to stay away from the meet.
This is the first time VS is missing the CPM state conference and his absence has literally turned the meet to Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark. He might have lost most of the battles he led within the party. He might have been sidelined and marginalised like no other senior leader before or after him.
Yet, the two letters, VS, was the focal point of the CPM state conferences for long. Though somewhat dwarfed by the presence of E M S Namboodiripad and A K Gopalan in the early years, VS came out of their shadow and emerged tall in the 1980s and 90s.
All state conferences in the last three decades revolved around him. His firm stand against revisionism in the CPM sparked off heated debates while his rigid attitude triggered frictions that led to factionalism within the party.
Despite losing battles to gain control over the party on many occasions, VS succeeded in hogging limelight during the triennial meets, with all discussions and media reports hovering around his actions and utterances as well as those criticising him. However, VS is keeping himself updated on the events at the state meet, his son V A Arunkumar said in an FB post.