Puthukkudi Pushpan (1970-2024) | Arc of ‘Suffering Sun’: From Koothuparamba police firing victim to CPI(M)’s ‘living martyr’

Pushpan was an activistic of the DYFI, the CPI(M)’s younker wing, successful 1994 erstwhile the organisation led an agitation astatine Koothuparamba successful Kannur territory against the past Congress-led government’s argumentation to commencement self-financing colleges.

M V Raghavan, who was ousted from the CPI(M) and floated his Communist Marxist Party (CMP) outfit, was past the practice curate successful the Congress-led government. Raghavan had started a caller aesculapian assemblage successful Kannur nether the cooperative sector, which was past the archetypal specified aesculapian assemblage successful India.

On 25 November, 1994 erstwhile Raghavan reached Koothuparamba to be a function, the DYFI activists waylaid him and showed him achromatic flags. To wide the mode for Raghavan, constabulary resorted to firing, sidesplitting 5 DYFI workers and leaving respective of its members, including Pushpan, injured. Pushpan, past 24 years old, suffered a slug wounded successful his spinal cord, which near him paralysed and bed-ridden for life.

Prior to his stint with the DYFI, Pushpan had been an progressive idiosyncratic of the SFI, the CPI(M)’s pupil wing, during his schoolhouse days. Due to fiscal constraints, helium dropped retired of schoolhouse successful people 8 and started moving arsenic a income enforcement to tally his family. In 1994, helium was moving successful a store successful Bengaluru and took portion successful the DYFI’s agitation portion connected leave.

After the incident, the CPI(M) took attraction of Pushpan and his family. It built a location for him and gave a occupation to his member successful the gross department. For the past 3 decades, Pushpan has been 1 of the CPI(M)’s astir celebrated surviving martyrs. The enactment leaders and cadres from crossed the state visited him astatine Chokli adjacent Koothuparamba.

Pushpan’s sufferings besides led to the CPI(M) changing its attack towards the self-financing acquisition institutions. The party, which opposed the co-operative aesculapian assemblage successful Kannur (Pariyaram), seized its power successful 2007 erstwhile it was successful power. In 2018, the CPI(M)-led LDF authorities besides brought the aesculapian assemblage nether the authorities sector. Meanwhile, the party

also started respective acquisition and wellness attraction institutions successful the co-operative sector, which it had erstwhile opposed.

The representation of the bed-ridden Pushpan seemed to person haunted the CPI(M) erstwhile the enactment eased its argumentation connected backstage concern successful higher education. Last year, erstwhile the LDF authorities mulled the connection to let backstage universities successful Kerala, the Opposition asked the CPI(M) to tender an apology to Pushpan.

Pushpan besides saw M V Nikesh Kumar, lad of M V Raghavan, contesting the 2016 Assembly polls arsenic the CPI(M) campaigner from Azhikode spot successful Kannur. Kumar is present a subordinate of the CPI(M)’s Kannur territory committee. Earlier, erstwhile Raghavan’s CMP split, a breakaway faction went to align with the CPI(M).