Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan (20 October 1923 – 21 July 2025), also known by his initials VS, was an Indian communist politician, independence activist, marxist theoretician, writer and statesman who was the Chief Minister of Kerala from 2006 to 2011. At 82, he was the oldest person to have assumed the office. He was affiliated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He served as the chairman of the Kerala Administrative Reforms Commission from 2016 to 2021. He served as the Leader of the Opposition for 15 years, making him the longest serving Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly.
Achuthanandan was a member of the CPI(M) Politburo from 1985 until July 2009, when he was reverted to the Central Committee of the party owing to his ideological dispositions.
Achuthanandan initiated various actions as Chief Minister, including the demolition drive in Munnar which reclaimed acres of illegally occupied land, the demolition drive on Kochi's M. G. Road which claimed back the long-lost shoulder of the road, anti-piracy drive against film piracy, and his struggle against the Lottery mafia in the state. He was instrumental in convicting former minister R. Balakrishna Pillai on charges of corruption. Achuthanandan also took the lead in promoting free software in the state, and especially in adopting free software in the public education system of the state.
Early life Born on 20 October 1923 in a poor Ezhava family to Sankaran and Accamma in Punnapra, Alappuzha, Travancore (part of present-day Kerala state, India), Achuthanandan lost his mother when he was four years old and subsequently lost his father at the age of 11. This forced him to quit his studies after finishing 7th standard in school. He started working by helping his elder brother in a village tailoring shop. Later he took up the job of meshing coir to make ropes at a coir factory. Witnessing the exploitation of labourers and harsh conditions in the coir industry, Achuthanandan began organising coir workers in the 1940s, which marked the beginning of his engagement with the Communist movement.
He began organising coir factory workers under the leadership of Communist leader P. Krishna Pillai. He later played an active role in the Punnapra-Vayalar uprising against the Travancore princely state, during which he was arrested and tortured. His injuries included bayonet wounds on the soles of his feet, and he was beaten till unconscious. The police thought that he had died, so they took his body to Valiyachudukattu for cremation, but the person who was cremating bodies noticed that he was alive. He was then taken to hospital and survived .He spent over five years in jail and more than four years underground.
Achuthanandan was in the forefront of the land struggles in Kerala starting with the Alappuzha declaration in 1970 demanding implementation of the Land Reforms Act passed by the EMS Government in 1967. Later his activities as the leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly had evoked good public response.
Political life Achuthanandan entered politics through trade union activities and joined State Congress in 1938. In 1940, he became a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI). During his 40 years as a politician he was imprisoned for five years and six months and was in hiding for four and half years. He was a state secretariat member of the CPI in 1957. During the 1962 India-China war, he defied the CPI’s official stance by organising blood donation drives for Indian soldiers, leading to his arrest and removal from the party’s state secretariat. He lived the longest among the 32 members who left the CPI National Council in 1964 to form the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)). In the 1980s, he opposed large dam projects, drawing criticism from the CPI(M) politburo. As Kerala state secretary, he publicly sided with anti-nuclear activists against the Left Front government’s plan to open a nuclear power plant. The CPI(M) Politburo formally censured him for deviating from the party position. He was the Secretary of the Kerala State Committee between 1980 and 1992. He was a member of the CPI(M) Politburo from 1985 until he was removed as a party disciplinary action. He was the senior most leader of CPI(M) in India. In 1990, Two CPI(M) municipal councillors were abducted by extremists in Thrissur. Achuthanandan, then in the state leadership, initially downplayed the incident. The party later reprimanded him for delaying action and summoned Kerala leaders to Delhi for discipline over the affair.
In 1992, following E. K. Nayanar's election to the post of Secretary of the CPI(M) State Committee, Achuthanandan was appointed as the Leader of the Opposition in the state legislature. By the 1996 election, Achuthanandan was considered to be the favourite to assume the post of Chief Minister if the LDF were to assume power. While the LDF won the assembly election by a comfortable margin, Achuthanandan unexpectedly lost from his sitting constituency of Mararikulam. His surprise defeat was attributed to factionalism and infighting within his own party. Achuthanandan's defeat paved the way for Nayanar to assume the office of Chief Minister for an unprecedented third term, thus becoming the longest-serving Chief Minister of Kerala.
The drive to reclaim paddy land The anti-reclamation stir launched by the Karshaka Thozhilali Party at Monkombu in 1996–97, under the leadership of Achuthanandan created much controversy. This stir was claimed to be highlighting the serious problem of the widespread conversion of paddy fields into another type of land, affecting the food security of Kerala. But this soon developed into a crop destruction drive. The protest got the sobriquet following the violent methods and crop destruction resorted to by the union cadre. The stir attracted lot of public attention and Achuthanandan was forced to express his disapproval of any destruction of crops. 15 years later, in November 2011, a UDF Minister, who was politically opposed to Achuthanandan, justified this struggle.
After the 1998 CPI(M) Kerala conference, Achuthanandan was rebuked for factional infighting. The party charged that he had orchestrated removals of rivals from state committees (especially targeting CITU leaders).
In the 1990s and 2000s, VS emerged as a prominent leader and became leader of the opposition three times. He led campaigns against land grabs, the lottery mafia and projects like Coca-Cola in Plachimada, which damaged local water sources. He stood with tribal communities during the Muthanga incident and fought for justice in the endosulfan tragedy in Kasaragod.
ElectionConstituencyResultMargin1965Ambalappuzha23271967Ambalappuzha95151970Ambalappuzha27681977Ambalappuzha55851991Mararikulam99801996Mararikulam19652001Malampuzha47032006Malampuzha200172011Malampuzha233402016Malampuzha27142
Positions held 1938 - Member, State Congress 1940 - Member, Communist Party of India 1952 - Division secretary, Communist Party of India (Alappuzha division) 1956 - District secretary, Communist Party of India (Alappuzha district) 1957 - State secretariat member, Communist Party of India (Kerala) 1958 - Member of National Council of Communist Party of India 1964 - Member Central Committee member of Communist Party of India (Marxist) 1967 - MLA, Ambalappuzha constituency (Term 1) 1970 - MLA, Ambalappuzha constituency (Term 2) 1980 - State secretary, CPIM Kerala 1985 - Member, Politburo of the CPIM 1991 - MLA, Mararikulam constituency (Term 3) 1992 - Leader of opposition, Kerala Legislative Assembly (Term 1) 2001 - MLA, Malampuzha constituency (Term 4) 2001 - Leader of opposition, Kerala Legislative Assembly (Term 2) 2006 - MLA, Malampuzha constituency (Term 5) 2006 - Chief Minister of Kerala 2011 - MLA, Malampuzha constituency (Term 6) 2011 - Leader of opposition, Kerala Legislative Assembly (Term 3) 2016 - MLA, Malampuzha constituency (Term 7) 2016 - Chairman of the Kerala Administrative Reforms Commission
Chief Minister of Kerala (2006–2011)
During the assembly elections held in Kerala in April–May 2006, VS Achuthanandan defeated Satheesan Pacheeni of the United Democratic Front by a margin of 20,017 votes in Malampuzha constituency in Palakkad district. He was sworn in as Chief Minister of Kerala on 18 May 2006, with his 21-member cabinet. Aged 82 years and 7 months at time, he was the oldest Chief Minister of Kerala, and one of the oldest in the whole of India. It is notable that he had been denied a party ticket to contest elections just two months before he was sworn in. He became the 11th Chief Minister of Kerala. On 12 July 2009, the CPI(M) Politbureau and Central Committee removed him from the PB for his stands taken in relation to the accusation and legal procedures against Pinarayi Vijayan in his reported involvement in the SNC Lavalin bribery. During his tenure as Chief Minister, V. S. Achuthanandan strongly opposed the India–ASEAN Free Trade Agreement on the grounds that it could devastate Kerala's cash‑crop sectors—particularly coconut, pepper, rubber, and edible oil producers. He wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stating that Kerala was not consulted before signing the pact, and warned that liberalised imports could lead to significant price crashes and job losses—estimating up to one million affected livelihoods.
In 2006, Achuthanandan openly criticised his Left allies (e.g. Minister Thomas Isaac and others) for agreeing to a $100 million Asian Development Bank loan. The CPI(M) state leadership warned him that public dissent against coalition partners was unwarranted.
In 2006, under the leadership of Achuthanandan, the government decided to develop and operate an International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT), Vallarpadam. Though it is a central-government project, Achuthanandan's government took strong steps to take over land required for road and rail lines for the project. The International Container Transshipment Terminal, Kochi was inaugurated on 11 February 2011; it is the first transshipment terminal in India and the first container terminal to operate in a SEZ.
The Technopark Kollam was initiated, planned and constructed during Achuthanandan's government. The plan for setting up the first district IT park in Kerala at Kollam was announced in January 2009. The Foundation stone was laid by Achuthanandan in February 2009. The park was set up expecting employment to the tune of 20,000 and investments of 800 crore rupees. The first phase of the park was inaugurated by Achuthanandan on 15 February 2011.
In May 2007, Achuthanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan (then Kerala CPI(M) secretary) were suspended from the party Politburo due to escalating factional feud. Both were readmitted after six months, but the incident marked a sharp intra-party rift.
In 2009, Achuthanandan's ministry started the work of Infopark Cherthala in Alappuzha. The project was inaugurated by Achuthanandan on 10 January 2011. With the state's IT sector witnessing phenomenal growth, it has become necessary to expand Infopark, Kochi, to the satellite towns of the city. Infrastructure development at the IT parks at Infopark Cherthala, Infopark Ambalappuzha and InfoPark Thrissur, which are the satellite units of Infopark, Kochi, were progressing fast. Achuthanandan laid the foundation stone of the second phase of Infopark at Kakkanad. The project is developed on 65 ha (160 acres).
In 2008, the Achuthanandan government proposed an International airport in Mattannur, Kannur. Two years later, Achuthanandan laid the foundation stone for the Kannur International Airport at the project site marking the formal commencement of construction activities on 17 December 2010 at a function attended by the then Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.