CHENNAI: Freedom fighter N Sankaraiah, one of the oldest communist leaders in the country, died in a Chennai hospital after a brief illness on Wednesday morning. He was 102.

Sankariah was admitted to a private hospital in Chennai a few days ago for flu but his condition deteriorated. He died a little after 9am on Wednesday, leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said. His body will be kept at the CPI-M office in Chennai to enable people to pay homage and the last rites will be held with state honours at 10am on November 16.

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan described Sankaraiah as a guiding force of the country’s communist movement in the country and a perennial source of inspiration.

Paying glowing tributes to the communist leader, Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin said: “Comrade Sankariah engaged in public life at a very young age and he lived for India, the working class and the land of Tamils until the age of 102. His sacrifices will remain in the history of Tamil Nadu”.

Over the last few months, Stalin’s government had made

Sankaraiah was the first recipient of the Thagaisal Tamizhar (Eminent Tamil) award instituted by the MK Stalin-led DMK government in 2021.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government also supported a move by Madurai Kamaraj University to honour Sankaraiah with an honorary doctorate but this effort was stalled by Raj Bhavan. Higher education minister K Ponmudy ended up boycotting two varsity convocations in protest against governor RN Ravi’s decision to not sign off on the file in time for the university’s convocation on November 2.

On Wednesday, Stalin did not name Ravi but made an oblique reference to the delay to honour Sankaraiah.

“At this time I feel sorry for small-minded people who do not know the history of freedom fighters from Tamil Nadu and I’m saddened by their betrayal,” Stalin said.

The CPM statement underlined that Sankaraiah, a student of history at the American College in Madurai, didn’t get his degree because he was arrested just before his final examinations. “He altogether spent eight years in jail till the eve of Independence,” the statement said.

Sankaraiah joined the communist movement in 1940 and was among the 32 National Council members who walked out to form the CPI-M in 1964. He was thrice elected to the state assembly in 1967, 1977 and 1980. A tall Marxist leader, Sanjaraiah, who was born in 1921 in Kovilpatti, was also the CPI-M state secretary of Tamil Nadu from 1995 to 2002.

He is survived by two sons.