Chennai: The last rites of veteran CPI leader D Pandian, who died in Chennai today, will be performes in Madurai tomorrow.
Born in Vellaimalaipatti near Usilampatti, Pandian joined the Communist party when he was an intermediate student of Karaikudi Alagappa College in 1953.
He won the studentsā union election and later became an English teacher in the college.
He was actively involved in the Tamilnadu Kalai Ilakkiya Perumandram, a literary wing founded by late communist stalwart P.Jeevanandam.
An outstanding orator, his talent was spotted by Jeevanandam and he had participated in the Kamban Kazhagam functions in Karaikudi.
He campaigned in the 1957 Assembly elections with a pseudonym. But newspapers published his original name and the college principal asked him to resign.
He was appreciated by the founder of the college Alagappa Chettiar, who presented him the works of Marx and Engels bought in London, when he was a student.
When difference of opinion with the CPI political line resulted in disciplinary action against him and senior leader M Kalyanasundaram, they joined hands with late Mohit Sen and floated the United Communist Party of India (UCPI) and Pandian had functioned as its state secretary.
He rejoined the CPI in 2000 and functioned as the state secretary of the party for three terms.
As the editor of Janasakthi, the official organ of the CPI, he penned a lot of political articles. Pandian was to translate the speech of Congress leader
and former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in the election campaign meeting at Sriperumbudur, where he was assassinated in May 1991.
A strong supporter of Eelam Tamils, Pandian was severely injured in the blast and he used to tell that “I still carry small pieces of shrapnel in my body.”