Kerala’s CPI Secretary Kanam Rajendran, Dies at 73

Kanam Rajendran, the chief leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI) in the state, passed away on Friday at a private hospital in Kochi after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was seventy-three.

He was admitted to the hospital for a number of conditions, including excessive blood sugar and a leg problem, and had just taken time off. He died on Friday night from an unexpected heart attack.

“The state, the CPI, and the LDF [Left Democratic Front] have suffered an irreversible loss with his passing. He was a powerful and indispensable leader. In addition to the late CPM [Communist Party of India (Marxist)] leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Kanam Rajendran was instrumental in forging a potent Left alliance that culminated in the LDF government’s comeback in 2021. State revenue minister and CPI leader K Rajan remarked, “The party and its workers will have to stand strong to bear this loss.”

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From 1982 to 1991, Rajendran represented the former Vazhoor Assembly constituency twice as an MLA. Since March 2, 2015, he has led the CPI for three terms as its state secretary.

As a member of the CPI central secretariat, Rajendran continued to hold a strong position in the ruling LDF and frequently disagreed with the CPI(M) leadership on a range of topics. As the head of the coalition’s second-largest party, he played a crucial role in convincing the CPI(M) to adopt a firm stance, particularly on issues like environmental preservation and corruption.

One of the most famous incidents was when Rajendran, in 2017, ordered his party’s ministers to abstain from a cabinet meeting to convey that the CPI opposed the continued tenure of Thomas Chandy, the then-minister of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), who had been accused of corruption. In the end, Chandy quit from the cabinet.

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Through the Nationalist Congress Party (AIYF), the CPI’s youth wing, Rajendran entered state politics and, at the age of 19, was appointed state secretary in 1969.

He led the Kottayam district unit of the CPI twice and was a member of the state secretariat at the age of 26. Twice, in 1982 and 1987, he was chosen from Vazhoor to serve in the Assembly. He lost all three of his contests despite trying.

In expressing sympathy for Rajendran’s passing, Kerala’s chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan remarked, “With his passing, we have lost one of the strong pillars of the Left unity in Kerala.” His services to upholding secular ideals, safeguarding democratic institutions, and bolstering the Communist movement and proletarian unity are unmatched.

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The mortal remains of Rajendran will be transported by air on Saturday from Kochi to Thiruvananthapuram, where the public can pay their respects to him at the state office of the CPI. His remains will be transported by vehicle to the Kottayam district in the evening and stored at the district party office. His ancestral village will hold the burial on Sunday at 11 a.m.