Chadayan Govindan (12 May 1929, Kambil in

Kannur Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a Cities in India, city and a municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the major port city a ...

district – 9 September 1998) was a

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

politician and a former minister of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South C ...

, South

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

. He was the secretary of the Kerala State Committee of Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) until his death on 9 September 1998.

Earlier life

Chadayan Govindan was born on 12 May 1929 in Narath Panchayat in Kannur. His father was Kunhappa and his mother was Kalyani. His family was very poor and his school education had to be stopped in the fifth class. He started working as a weaver from young age.

Political life

Govindan became a party cell member in 1948. He resisted the physical attacks goondas very boldly and this gave him the image of a fire brand worker. His house was attacked following a march he organised as part of the Malabar District Board elections in 1949. His weaving equipments were destroyed. He went to Karnataka and engaged in a manual work. After the Padikkunnu shooting, Chadayan Govindan was arrested and tortured in the police camp for one week. News came out that he was dead and hearing this people assembled in front of the camp. Later police informed that he was alive. He was arrested in 1965 as part of the nationwide assault on left wing leaders framing them as ‘Chinese Agents’. He has spent many years in the underground for party work. Chadayan Govindan became Communist Party Irikkur Farka Committee Member in 1952 and became a full-time party worker in 1962. In 1964, he was Kannur Taluk Committee Member and District Council member of CPI. Later he became a member of CPI (M) Kannur district committee. In 1977 he was elected as Kannur District Committee Secretariat member and State Committee Member in 1978. He became Kannur District Secretary in 1979 and a member of the State Secretariat in 1985. Later he became the state secretary of CPI (M) in Kerala. He was a member of Narath Panchayat Board in 1954. He was elected to the Kerala Assembly from Azheekode Constituency in 1977. He was elected as the State Secretary of CPI (M) in 1996, when the then Secretary and former

Chief Minister of Kerala The chief minister of Kerala is the chief executive of the Indian state of Kerala. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. F ...

E. K. Nayanar Erambala Krishnan Nayanar (9 December 191919 May 2004) was an Indian Communist politician of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M). He served three terms as the Chief Minister of Kerala (1980–1981, 1987–1991 and 1996–2001) for ...

stepped down to become the Chief Minister for the third time. He suffered from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bl ...

during his final days, and had frequent admissions in the R. C. C. in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

. He was admitted there for the final time on 25 August 1998, and died at 2:40 AM on 9 September, aged 69. He was survived by his wife and four sons.

References

1929 births 1998 deaths Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from Kerala People from Kannur district Malayali politicians Kerala MLAs 1977–1979 Deaths from cancer in India {{Kerala-CPIndiaMarxist-politician-stub