Veteran leader of CPI, R. Nallakannu, breathed his last in Chennai today. The 101-year-old leader suffered a major setback in his health on the 23rd of February and remained in a critical condition on a ventilator before the end came. He suffered from multiple comorbidities, including pneumonia and kidney failure.
He had been receiving treatment from a multidisciplinary team of doctors for the past 24 days at the intensive care unit at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai. A native of Tiruvaikuntam in Thoothukudi district, Nallakannu was associated with the Left movement for several decades. Born in 1925, he joined the Communist Movement at the age of 15 and actively participated in numerous workers’ rights protests. He served as the State General Secretary of the CPI for several years. He had campaigned for the Cauveri issue, interstate river water disputes, and against sand mining along the Thamirabarani river and sought a judicial ban on sand extraction from the river. During the declaration of emergency, he was imprisoned. He contested the Lok Sabha election from the Coimbatore Constituency but was defeated by the present Vice President C.P.Radhakrishnan.
