The Politician - Azhikodan Raghavan: (1919 - 1972)

• Became communist party member in 1940 at the age of 21. He was groomed into a true communist comrade by the veteran comrades P.Krishna Pilla and N.C.Shekhar.

• He was chosen to be the secretary of Kannur town branch committee in 1946. He took active part in the strikes of workers that erupted in beedi and cigar industry, in post and telegraph department and in the railway department along with com. Krishna Pilla.

• In 1948 the then congress government let loose communist which hunting comrades went into hiding, Com. Azhikodan who was bedridden with typhoid went into hiding. The violence and torture spearheaded by the so called Desharakhasamiti did not spare anybody associated with the communist movement. The veteran communist leader Com. P.C.Joshi, addressing a meeting in Kannur declared, if anybody dared to beat a communist once, he would get ten beadings in return. The goondas of the ruling congress party had planned to attack him several times. After arrest he was tortured in police custody.

• In June 1951, he was chosen to be the member of the Malabar Committee of the Communist party.

• In the North Malabar committee meeting held in Kannur on September 9, 1956 he was elected as the secretary of Kannur district committee.

• In 1959 he was re elected to the post.

• In the next annual meeting he was relieved of his duties from the district committee when he was elected to the State committee of communist party of India. With this his political activities became state-wide.

• By 1964 revisionism became rampant in the Indian Communist party. The revisionist who had majority in the state committee expelled him from the party.

• In the wake of the Indo-Chinese war of November 1962 Com:Azhikodan was also arrested along with many other communist leaders as part of preventive detention. In 1964 when the Indian Communist party split, the revisionist labeled their opponents in the party as the spies favouring China and got them arrested. Com:Azhicodan was also arrested on December 30, 1964.

• Achutha Menon ministry came to power after the 1967 E.M.S. ministry. When C.Achutha Menon ministry retrenched 614 workers from the transport department, transport workers declared strike. What began as a transport strike gradually translated itself into a struggle of the people. Com:Azhikodan played a key-role in this struggle.

• By that time Com:Azhikodan had left his mark in Kerala politics. He was the secretary of the co-ordination committee of the coalition ministry of 1967, headed by E.M.S.Nampoothiripad. The month of December 1971 witnessed an unprecedented communal riot in Thalassery. Party comrades under the guidance of Com:Azhikodan played a pivotal role in protecting the Muslims and quenching the riot.