VZCZCXRO3378
RR RUEHBI RUEHCI
DE RUEHCG #1195/01 1601019
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 091019Z JUN 06
FM AMCONSUL CHENNAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8621
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 1735
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 4782
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL CALCUTTA 0529
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 1226

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENNAI 001195 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR INR/B AND SCA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PINR IN
SUBJECT: KERALA CHIEF MINISTER ACHUTHANANDAN: VINTAGE 
COMMUNIST TAKES CHARGE 
 
REF: CHENNAI 0960 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Eighty three years old and with 
little formal education, Kerala's new Chief Minister 
V.S. Achuthanandan of the Communist Party of India 
(Marxist) is different from the state's previous 
communist Chief Ministers in that he hails from a low- 
caste and working class background.  Within the party, 
he leads a faction that shuns reform and 
liberalization.  In his cabinet, he is surrounded by 
party opponents who hate his egocentric style and 
policy inflexibility.  He has been on the forefront of 
the ongoing agitation against Coca Cola's bottling 
plant in Kerala.  Despite his "lone crusader" image 
and his current popularity in the state, he is 
unlikely to make Kerala more business-friendly and 
create jobs for its five million unemployed.  END 
SUMMARY 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
SIX DECADES OF PARTY EXPERIENCE, NONE AS MINISTER 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶2. (SBU) Velikkakathu Sankaran (V.S.) Achuthanandan, 
"VS" to party comrades, became Chief Minister of 
Kerala on May 18, 2006.  After leading the CPI(M) and 
its coalition, the Left Democratic Front (LDF), to a 
massive electoral victory earlier in the month, 
Achuthanandan emerged as a frontrunner for the post, 
riding a wave of popular support.  The Chief 
Minister's job is an entirely new experience for him, 
however.  He has been a communist party worker for 66 
years, a party politburo member for ten years, a 
member of the state assembly for five terms, and the 
opposition leader in the state assembly twice. 
Achuthanandan, however, has never held a minister's 
post. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
A BORN FIGHTER WHO CAME UP THROUGH STRUGGLES 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Achuthanandan was born on October 20, 1923 in 
a poor, "Ezhava" (lower caste of palm toddy-tappers) 
home in Paravur village in the coastal Alleppey 
district of the then-princely state of Travancore, 
southern Kerala.  He advanced in life and the party 
through a series of struggles.  At the age of four, he 
lost his mother, and at 11, his father.  At age 12, 
Achuthanandan had to discontinue his education when he 
was in seventh grade to assist his brother in a small 
textile shop.  Later, Achuthanandan took a job in a 
company that made soldiers' tents.  In 1939, at the 
age of 16, he joined the Kerala Congress party, then 
fighting for Indian independence.  The times were 
turbulent: his Ezhava caste was at that time 
organizing agitations against upper caste Hindus who 
denied them access to temples.  The nascent Communist 
movement was focusing on the lower castes and poor 
people in coastal areas, organizing trade unions and 
party units.  Achuthanandan was attracted to this 
movement of the have-nots and became a member of the 
Communist Party at age 17. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
BAPTISM BY FIRE: HIS ROLE IN THE COMMUNIST UPRISING 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶4. (SBU) Achuthanandan took active part in the violent 
Communist uprising against the Travancore state police 
in 1946.  In what is known as the "Punnapra-Vayalar 
agitation," rural communists from Achuthanandan's 
neighborhood attacked the police with wooden spears, 
leading to police firings that killed an estimated 300 
communists.  The police quelled the uprising in four 
days.  Achuthanandan went into hiding but was arrested 
a few days later, severely tortured, and imprisoned 
for four years at the Central Jail in 
Thiruvananthapuram city, where he now presides over 
the state government.  Later, during the 1960's, 
Achuthanandan was imprisoned several times along with 
other Indian communist leaders on political charges. 
He has years of experience conducting political work 
while remaining "underground," cunningly evading 
arrest. 
 
CHENNAI 00001195  002 OF 003 
 
 
 
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AMBITION FULFILLED AFTER MISSING THRICE 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) One of the few surviving founder-leaders of 
the CPI(M), Achuthanandan has contested eight state 
assembly elections and won five (1967, 1970, 1991, 
2001, and 2006).  Twice he worked as opposition leader 
in the state assembly (1992-96, and 2001-06).  In the 
party, he has held important positions for half a 
century: District Secretary of the undivided Communist 
Party of India from 1956; National Council Member from 
1959; Central Committee Member of CPI(M) from 1964; 
party State Secretary from 1980-1992; and party 
politburo member since 1986.  His hopes of becoming 
the Chief Minister of Kerala were dashed on three 
different occasions: in 1991, he won the state 
elections but his party lost; in 1996, his party won 
but he lost; and in 2001, he won again but again his 
party lost. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
FIVE YEARS OF CAMPAIGNS AGAINST CORRUPTION 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶6. (SBU) It was Achuthanandan's latest role as 
Opposition Leader (2001-06) that earned him much of 
the popularity he enjoys today.  Projecting a "lone 
crusader" image, he relentlessly attacked allegedly 
corrupt and morally wayward politicians.  Some of 
these attacks were directed against his own party 
colleagues, which helped boost his personal 
reputation.  For example, while he relentlessly 
attacked Muslim League minister Kunjalikkutty for his 
alleged involvement in a sexual harassment case, 
indirectly, he was also hitting hard at his own party 
colleagues who, as sitting ministers, had allegedly 
helped Kunjalikkutty escape prosecution.  In another 
sex scandal, Achuthanandan hinted that two of his own 
party colleagues had played a role in the affair, 
embarrassing them in public.  He chose not to support 
his own party State Secretary, Pinarayi Vijayan, when 
allegations of corruption were raised against Vijayan 
on a deal with the Canadian power company, SNC 
Lavalin.  Achuthanandan has championed the strong 
agitation against the Coca Cola facility in Kerala, 
even though the bottling plant was established during 
the LDF government's 1996-2001 term.  (See Chennai 
0109 and Previous). 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
A FACTIONALIST SURROUNDED BY PARTY OPPONENTS 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Achuthanandan's political campaigns have 
created bitter enemies within his own party.  Several 
CPI(M) state leaders, members of the party's powerful 
State Secretariat, who hate his egocentric style and 
policy inflexibility, plotted to refuse him a seat to 
contest in the recent assembly elections.  As a 
result, his name did not figure in the list of 
candidates originally announced by the party.  His 
omission created a huge uproar.  Achuthanandan's 
supporters marched in the streets, chanting slogans 
against party bosses.  Fearing a major popular 
backlash, the CPI(M) politburo, in an unprecedented 
decision, reconsidered and brought Achuthanandan to 
the electoral fray.  The massive victory the CPI(M) 
scored in the election vindicated the decision and 
catapulted him to the Chief Minister's chair. 
 
¶8. (SBU) According to the Post's journalist sources, 
factionalism is still raging in the Kerala CPI(M). 
The party has refused the Chief Minister the 
traditional Home portfolio, fearing that he would use 
the state police to settle political scores.  Adding 
to the embarrassment, Achuthanandan had to give up the 
vigilance portfolio -- another potent weapon -- to a 
party colleague within a few days of his initial 
decision to take it.  Kerala's local newspapers are 
abuzz with stories of the continuing factionalism and 
mutual distrust within the CPI(M) in Kerala.  They 
point out that Achuthanandan's faction is a minority 
in the cabinet which is dominated by the powerful 
 
CHENNAI 00001195  003 OF 003 
 
 
party secretariat members from the opposite camp. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
A HARDLINER LIMITED BY HIS OWN PAST CAMPAIGNS 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (SBU) Achuthanandan also has a reputation for 
opposing all reform and development.  His opponents 
have described him as "communist hardliner," and as 
one "belonging to the ideological Jurassic Age when 
the party believed in its since-revised 1964-program 
of rigid anti-imperialism, anti-feudalism and anti- 
monopoly."  Much of this perception is based on his 
own campaigns and statements as the opposition leader. 
For example, opposing the UDF Government's 
"Modernization of Government Plan" which was aided by 
the Asian Development Bank in 2002, Achuthanandan went 
to the extent of warning that a future LDF government 
would not repay the ADB loan.  In 2006, Achuthanandan 
strongly opposed the signing of the agreement for $350 
million "Smart City Project" for Cochin, a software 
infrastructure project of Dubai Internet City (DIC) 
which promised 33,000 jobs.  Achuthanandan's 
contention was that the terms of the transfer of land 
and buildings were too advantageous to the company. 
 
------------------------------- 
LIMITED ENGLISH, RELUCTANT HOST 
------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Achuthanandan's English is limited although 
he can understand and speak the language at a very 
basic level.  He will have difficulty sustaining long 
conversations with foreigners or engaging in small 
talk.  He has been reluctant to meet U.S. diplomats in 
the past.  On one occasion when he agreed to receive a 
Consul General in 1994, he cut the meeting short 
without apologies.  He has visited Russia, China, 
Mongolia, and the U.K. 
 
----------------- 
PERSON AND FAMILY 
----------------- 
 
¶11. (SBU) At 83, Achuthanandan enjoys fairly good 
health.  He practices yoga and strictly controls his 
diet.  He reportedly wakes at five in the morning and 
goes to bed at midnight, while maintaining a busy 
schedule throughout the day.  He is married to 
Vasumathy who retired as Head Nurse from the Alleppey 
Medical College.  They have a son and a daughter. 
Their son, V.A. Arun Kumar, is Joint Director at the 
Institute for Human Resource Development (IHRD), 
Kerala.  Daughter V.V. Asha, Ph.D. in ethno- 
pharmacology, is a scientist at the Rajiv Gandhi 
Center for Bio-Technology, Thiruvananthapuram. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
OUTLOOK: CASE-BY-CASE APPROACH; POLICY CONSERVATISM 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) COMMENT: Lack of administrative experience 
has kept Achuthanandan away from economic realities 
and political pragmatism.  It remains to be seen 
whether it is now too late for this octogenarian to 
change his stripes as his West Bengal counterparts 
have done.  At least in some cases, such as on Coca 
Cola's bottling plant at Palakkad, his constituency 
district, it will be difficult for him to retreat from 
his previous extreme positions.  Opting for a case-by- 
case approach, he will, however, remain friendly to 
non-controversial investors such as U.S. Technology 
Resources in the Thiruvananthapuram Technopark.  On 
the whole, his tenure is likely to be marked by a lack 
of dynamism on the business front.  The continuing 
feud in the party and cabinet could further slow down 
decisions.  Already behind the other three south 
Indian states in attracting investments and enhancing 
infrastructure, Kerala's economic development 
prospects do not look bright for the near term. END 
COMMENT 
 
HOPPER