R Nallakannu, a freedom fighter and one of the tallest leaders of the Communist Party of India (CPI) in Tamil Nadu, whose life spanned the arc of India’s Independence struggle and the turbulent decades that followed, died in Chennai Wednesday. He was a centenarian.
He had been ailing for some time and was undergoing treatment at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, where he was admitted to the intensive care unit on February 1. Hospital authorities said he suffered multi-organ failure and was placed on life support. “He was not able to tolerate treatment and his condition deteriorated further on Wednesday,” the hospital stated.
Born on December 26, 1925, in Srivaikuntam near Thoothukudi, to Ramasamy and Karuppayi Ammal, Nallakannu grew up in a peasant family. CPI leaders often recalled that the party was founded in Kanpur on the same day, giving his birth a symbolic resonance. His political awakening began in school, amid the fervour of the freedom movement. Inspired first by Mahatma Gandhi and later introduced to Marxist literature by his teacher Pallavesam, he joined protests as a student activist and was imprisoned during the Quit India movement.
At 18, he joined the Communist Party and, as he later recounted, left home “with a dhoti and towel” to become a full-time worker. He worked closely with activist B Srinivasa Rao in the agrarian movement and was shaped by trade union struggles in Harvey Mills, Thoothukudi, and the writings of Tamil scholar Thiru Vi Kalyanasundaram.
After Independence, in 1949, in the midst of a crackdown on the Communist Party for its involvement in armed struggle, 23-year-old Nallakannu was arrested in Puliyoorkurichi village in Nanguneri and subjected to custodial torture. A police officer burned off his moustache with a cigarette butt, an episode that left a permanent mark; he was unable to grow it thereafter. He had been sentenced to life imprisonment in the Nellai conspiracy case, which alleged a plot to overthrow the then Jawaharlal Nehru government. He was released in 1956. He later recalled long days confined to a cell, doors opened only briefly each morning.
Soft-spoken and austere, Nallakannu was known for uncompromising secular politics and personal integrity. In the 1999 Lok Sabha election in Coimbatore, he refused to campaign without the Indian Union Muslim League’s flag on his alliance vehicle, insisting that victory without visible solidarity was not worth having. He lost – to now Vice-President C P Radhakrishnan – but never expressed regret. His only other electoral forays, in the Assembly polls of 1967 and 1977, too ended in failure. Nallakannu served as the CPI’s state secretary from 1992 to 2005.
He lived simply, in rented quarters in Chennai, returning to the party the Rs 1 crore collected for his 80th birthday in 2005. He donated award purses as well, including the state government’s Rs 10-lakh Thagaisal Thamizhar award in 2022, adding Rs 5,000 from his own pocket to contribute the full amount to the Chief Minister’s Public Relief Fund.
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi condoled his death, saying Nallakannu was “widely respected by people from every section of society. Equally noteworthy was his simplicity. My thoughts are with his family and admirers.”
Among those who paid tributes to the departed Communist leader were Vice-President Radhakrishnan, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin, actor-turned-politician Vijay, and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) leader Thol Thirumavalavan, besides several figures from the film industry.
Actor Rajinikanth, while paying his tribute in a post on X, said, “The irreplaceable loss of Comrade Thiru Nallakannu, who lived and passed away steadfast in his policy convictions, cannot be compensated to the people of Tamil Nadu. May his soul attain peace. Deepest condolences.”
He is survived by his wife, Ranjitham, and their daughters, including Andal, a doctor, and Kasi Bharathi.