Former Kerala Minister MV Raghavan, general secretary of the State-based Communist Marxist Party and a former firebrand CPI(M) leader who had led a relentless 25-year-long war against the Marxists after his expulsion, passed away at the Cooperative Medical College Hospital at Pariyaram near Kannur on Sunday morning. He was 81.
Melath Veettil Raghavan, known simply as MVR throughout Kerala, had been confined to his home for the past two years due to Parkinson’s disease and other age-related illnesses. Cremation will take place on Monday morning at Payyambalam in Kannur. MVR is survived by wife Janaki, three sons and a daughter.
As leader of the CPI(M) known for his characteristic firmness and straightforwardness, Raghavan had played a significant role in building its youth front in the State, especially in the northern Malabar region. The boldness and firmness he displayed in taking up people’s issues earned him the sobriquet, War Horse of Kannur.
Raghavan was expelled from the CPI(M) in 1985 at the end of a long-drawn dispute with the party leadership over the alternative tactical line he advocated which favoured formation of alliance with the Indian Union Muslim league in order to take on the Congress and the UDF it led in Kerala.
Many top Marxist leaders including former Chief Minister EK Nayanar initially supported his argument but most of them changed their stance eventually to toe the official party line. After expulsion from the CPI(M), he and his associates formed the CMP which did not wait for long to join the UDF, then led by former chief minister and Congress strongman K Karunakaran.
As a UDF leader, Raghavan was elected to the State Assembly three times and served as Minister twice. After he was confined to home, a faction of his party, CMP, left the UDF to join hands with the CPI(M)-led lDF. Paying homage to Raghavan, State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said that Raghavan’s death had come at a time when a rethink (on the relations) was happening.