VCK condoles Sankaraiah’s death, says memorial must be built for him

VCK founder Thol. Thirumavalavan, who paid his respects to the departed Marxist leader Sankariah at the CPI (M) office in T. Nagar here, urged the State government to ensure that a memorial was built for him.

In a statement, he said Sankariah began taking part in protests when he was just nine against the Colonial government’s decision to hang Communist leader Bhagat Singh. He was also arrested by the Colonial government when he was a student leader in college.

“He was released after several months of incarceration after independence. Then, when the Communist party in India was banned, he was again arrested and spent years in jail. In total, he has spent nine years in jail. He was the founding member of CPM and has been an MLA thrice. He has worked with Kamaraj, Anna [Annadurai], M.G.R. and Karunanidhi in his political career and has been the leader of farmers’ union. However, when the Tamil Nadu government wanted to give him an honarary doctorate, Governor R.N. Ravi, who doesn’t understand freedom struggle, prevented the effort.”