THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The Emergency was the most challenging and trying time for 75-year-old Sukumaran Nair, a firebrand local communist leader from Kodunganoor in Thiruvananthapuram.
“I led the poster campaigning to protest the Emergency. But our fight took a grim turn when two of my comrades were taken into custody by the authorities. I had to go underground for nearly two months following the party’s instruction,” recalls Sukumaran, who is an active worker of the CPM.
His tiny tailoring shop, which has been there for nearly six decades at Kodunganoor Junction, looks nothing less than a party office. Wall hangings and photos of Communist stalwarts, including E M S Namboodiripad, A K Gopalan and E K Nayanar, take up space on the walls of the shop frequented by party workers.
Sukumaran, an integral part of the party squad carrying out a door-to-door campaign for Thiruvananthapuram LDF candidate Pannian Raveendran, was a bit late on Monday to open his shop.
“I’m busiest during election days. I spend the whole day canvassing votes, and only after that, I open the shop,” says Sukumaran, who played a key role in the road development at Kodunganoor - which links Thiruvananthapuram and Kattakada taluks.
“This town was different, there was no road here. We had to fight a lot to bring all these developments to Kodunganoor,” reminisces Sukumaran, who was at the forefront of the protest to reclaim purambokk land at Kodunganoor Junction for road development.
“I was the area committee secretary at the time when the purambokk land required for road development was encroached upon. We had to resist a private party’s attempt to construct a wall there. We knocked down the wall and reclaimed three metres for road development,” he recalls. “There was a lot of tension; a police case was registered and it took nine years to settle the issue.”
Being a rooted Communist, he believes party classes are vital. “We still take classes for youngsters and our ideology is to stand with the commoner. Irrespective of party affiliations, I still reach out to people. Many come here for help to get pensions and other benefits and I welcome them with open arms and do whatever I can,” says Sukumaran, confident of a strong LDF performance.