Thiruvananthapuram, July 22 (IANS) The final journey for Communist veteran V.S. Achuthanandan from Thiruvananthapuram commenced on Tuesday on a state-owned passenger bus which was fully decked with flowers.

The state capital city has been his second home since 1967, when he won as a legislator for the first time.

VS, as the leader was popularly known, passed away at a private hospital here on Monday at 3.20 p.m. He was 101.

On Tuesday morning, the body of former Chief Minister was taken from his son’s house here to the palatial Durbar Hall in the heart of the State Secretariat- the seat of the government which he headed from 2006-11.

At 1 p.m., the body was placed on the bus, and it left the Secretariat where he held fort from 2006 to 2011 as Chief Minister.

Two big window panes on both sides of the bus were removed to enable people to have a better view of the departed leader.

Hundreds of people are walking along the bus, which is moving at a slow pace, and the first brief stop was before the Kerala Legislative Assembly (new premises), where he was Leader of Opposition on two occasions, CM once and legislator once.

Alongside the road, people were shouting slogans in Malayalam, which translates to “Achuthanandan will never die”.

Incidentally, even though VS quit public life in January 2020, he continued to be revered.

Behind the bus is a long line of vehicles of Ministers, legislators and others.

A public holiday was announced for Kerala on Tuesday, and on Wednesday, when the last rites would be conducted at the leader’s home town, Alappuzha, in the evening, a public holiday has been declared in the district.

All the top national leaders of the CPI-M, including general secretary M.A. Baby, who was the Education Minister in Achuthanandan’s cabinet, former general secretaries Prakash Karat and Brinda Karat and a host of leaders paid their last respects.

At Alappuzha, the body will be kept at his home.

On Wednesday, the body will be taken to the district CPI-M office and then to the seaside and from there for his last journey to the cremation ground at Valiyachudukad around 4 p.m., where the pyre will be lit.

Achuthanandan was among the founding leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which was formed in 1964 following a split from the CPI.

He, along with a group of comrades, had then walked out of the original Communist Party of India, marking a historic ideological shift. He is survived by his wife, son, and daughter.

–IANS

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