R Nallakannu: A Moral Compass of India's Freedom Struggle

Chennai:Freedom fighter and Communist veteran R Nallakannu passed away in Chennai at 101 on Tuesday afternoon. Ailing for some time, he was undergoing treatment at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, where he breathed his last—closing a chapter that bridged India’s freedom struggle and contemporary political life. For generations of cadres of the Communist Party of India (CPI), Nallakannu, known as RNK to comrades, was not merely a leader but a living link to a time when idealism and selflessness defined public life. When the Communist movement split in 1964 after the Indo-China war, he chose to remain with the CPI. He went on to serve three terms as Tamil Nadu State Secretary from 1992, guiding the party through turbulent decades. Let us know! 👂What type of content would you like to see from us this year? Let us know! 👂What type of content would you like to see from us this year? Born in 1925 in Srivaikundam in Thoothukudi district, a nerve centre of the freedom movement shaped by V.O. Chidambaram, RNK joined nationalist activities as a schoolboy. Though too young to participate in the Individual Satyagraha or Quit India movements, he organised meetings and absorbed the fiery oratory of local leaders who spoke of Jallianwala Bagh and colonial injustice. Let us know! 👂What type of content would you like to see from us this year? He joined the Communist Party at 18, influenced by agrarian struggles and trade union movements in the south. Defying his father’s wish for a stable job, he left home with just a dhoti and towel to become a full-time party worker. He worked closely with P. Srinivasa Rao in the peasant movement and fought exploitation by powerful mutts. In one instance, when he attempted to enter streets barred to oppressed communities, he was tied to a post and beaten. His activism came at enormous personal cost. Arrested in 1949 in the Nellai Conspiracy Case—which accused Communists of plotting to overthrow the government led by Jawaharlal Nehru—he was sentenced to life imprisonment and released in 1956. He spent years underground when the party was banned, first by the British and later by independent India’s government. He endured brutal torture; a police officer allegedly singed his upper lip with a cigarette butt, leaving him unable to grow a moustache. Even in his later years, RNK remained a tireless field worker. In 2010, he filed and personally argued a Public Interest Litigation in the Madras High Court against illegal sand mining in the Thamirabarani River, securing a stay order and earning admiration beyond ideological lines. Also Watch: That respect was perhaps best captured by Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan, who defeated RNK in the 1999 Coimbatore Lok Sabha election. “I was actually upset that a dignified leader like him could not win,” he wrote once, reflecting on a victory that brought him “deep pain.” Soft-spoken, affable and unwavering in his commitment to secularism and workers’ rights, RNK remained troubled by communal politics and the weakening of public sector institutions. He consistently advocated unity between the CPI and CPI(M), believing only a united Left could defend India’s secular fabric. With his passing, Tamil Nadu—and the nation—loses not just a veteran Communist, but a moral compass forged in struggle and sacrifice.