Kasaragod : T. Govindan, veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader and former Member of Parliament who represented the Kasaragod Lok Sabha constituency, died at a private hospital in Mangalore around noon on Sunday. He was 71.

Mr. Govindan, hailing from Payyannur here, breathed his last at the hospital where he was admitted for treatment of age-related ailments. He had been elected to the Lok Sabha from the Kasaragod constituency in the 1996, 1998 and 1999 elections. A State committee member of the CPI(M) at the time of his demise, Mr. Govindan had also served as vice-chairman of the Kerala Khadi and Village Industries Board.

Born in January 11, 1940 to Sanskrit scholar and Pooramkali artiste P.P. Raman Panikkar and Chemmaruthi, he joined the Communist Party in 1963 after being attracted to the Marxist ideology when he was a student. When the party split in 1964, he was party local secretary at Payyannur. He had completed his matriculate at the Payyannur High School and secured Local Self Government Diploma in Thiruvananthapuram.

A committed party worker, Mr. Govindan had become district secretary of the CPI(M) in 1989 for a two-year tenure. He had been in the party State committee since 1996, the year when he was elected to Parliament for the first time, defeating I. Rama Rai of the Congress by a huge margin of 74,730 votes. In the election to the 12 th Lok Sabha in 1998, he was re-elected from the constituency by defeating Congress candidate Khader Mangad by a reduced margin of 48,240 votes. He had won a hat-trick victory in the 1999 election from the constituency with a further reduced margin of 31,578 votes against Mr. Mangad.

The deceased leader was also actively involved in the co-operative movement in the region. He had served as president and chairman of various co-operative societies in the region including the Payyanur Co-operative Hospital Society and the Kannur Co-operative Spinning Mill. He had also been a member of the district committee of the Kisan Sabha and the Konkan Railway Users’ Consultative Committee.

An active presence in the cultural activities in and around his native Payyannur, he had also served as member of the Kasturba Memorial Reading Room and the AKG Memorial Kala Samithi at Payyanur. He was also known as a leader with literary leanings as he read literary works including Kalidasa’s works in Sanskrit, works of Vallathol, Kumaranasan and M.T. Vasudevan Nair.

During his tenure in Parliament, Mr. Govindan had served in various House committees and Standing committees including the Committees on Rural and Urban Development, on Communications, Information and Broadcasting and on Urban Affairs and Employment. During his term in the 12 Lok Sabha in 1998-99, he had served as the Whip of the CPI(M) Parliamentary Party in the Lok Sabha.

Mr. Govindan, during his tenure as MP, had exerted pressure on the Central government to translate the proposal for the Naval Academy at Ezhimala, which falls under his constituency, into a reality. He had always cultivated a cordial relationship with people including his political rivals.

Party sources said that the body would be brought to his residence at Payyannur by Sunday night. The body would be kept at Kasaragod for some time for people there to pay their last respects to the late leader who represented them in the Lok Sabha. Cremation would take place at Payyannur on October 24, they said adding the body would be kept at the Gandhi Maidan at Payyannur for public viewing before it was taken for cremation.

He is survived by wife M. Savithri, three sons and a daughter.

Minister of State for Power K.C. Venugopal, who also hails from Payyannur, condoled the death of the veteran CPI(M) leader. – the hindu