K.P. Sahadevan, Keralam CPI(M) leader and trade unionist, dies at 84

Veteran communist and trade union leader K.P. Sahadevan passed away in Kannur, Keralam, on Friday afternoon. He was 84. Mr. Sahadevan was former CPI(M) State committee member and CITU State secretary.

He had been undergoing treatment for age-related ailments.

Mr. Sahadevan devoted more than six decades of his life to the communist and working-class movements, beginning his trade union activities at the age of 18. He remained at the forefront of workers’ struggles until the final day of his life.

After completing his primary education, Mr. Sahadevan began his working life as a beedi worker. He entered public life as secretary of the Kannur division of the KP Tobacco Workers Union. He subsequently helped form and led numerous trade unions, emerging as a prominent voice of the working class in Keralam.

He served as a member of the CITU All India Working Committee, State Secretary of the Beedi and Cigar Workers Federation, and national vice-president of the federation. He was also the general secretary of the CITU district committee and a former member of the CPI(M) State committee.

Mr. Sahadevan endured imprisonment and repeated police brutality during his political career. During the Emergency, he was detained under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) for 20 months. He spent nearly two more years in prison during different periods. He suffered severe injuries in police violence, including during a crackdown shortly before the Emergency. On March 17, 2003, he was again subjected to a brutal police assault during an LDF march to the Kannur Superintendent of Police’s office.

He became a member of the Communist Party in 1955-56. From the formation of the CPI(M) in 1964 until 1978, he served as secretary of the Kannur Municipal Local Committee. He became a district committee member in 1978 and joined the district secretariat in 1986. He was elected to the CPI(M) State committee in 2005 and stepped down from the body in 2022. He contested the Kannur Assembly constituency as the LDF candidate in the 2006 election.

Mr. Sahadevan was the son of the late Kunhiraman and K.P. Thala of Kannothuchal in Elayavoor.

He is survived by his wife, K.K. Kaushalya, a former manager of the Kannur Town Service Cooperative Bank, and their two sons, K.P. Sajeevan and Shameer.