Karat releases biography on EMS

New Delhi, Jan 19 (UNI) A political biography of E M S Namboodiripad, the doyen of Indian Communist Movement, was released here today by CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat.

The 372-page book in Malayalam, authored by Marxist ideologue P Govinda Pillai, looks at the life, times as well as the struggles that E M S, as he was fondly called by party cadres, and his comrades had to undergo in firming up the Left movement in India.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Karat said the book had enormous advantages as it was authored by a person who was a companion of E M S in his political and ideological journey.

He said the book would evoke a lot of discussion in Kerala, known for controversies. "The author draws some conclusions which people may look at differently." Mr Karat said Kerala in the 20th century became a better place for which E M S contributed a lot.

He recalled the major role played by E M S for the communist movement to come to terms with Parliamentary democracy. "He is therefore a key person responsible for democratic gains of Kerala." Mr Govinda Pillai was a close associate of Namboodiripad, the first Chief Minister of Kerala after its formation in 1956 as also the first to head a democratically-elected Communist government in the world. EMS was the General Secretary of the CPI(M) during 1977-1992.

"My biography of EMS is a final assessment of the Communist stalwart," Mr Pillai told UNI from Thiruvananthapuram. He was to have attended today's book release function, but he cancelled the trip following an accident.

Mr Pillai had close association with E M S for nearly 60 years, during which he was his personal assistant and editor of his books and editor of party mouthpiece "Desabhimani." In the preface of the book, published by National Book Trust (NBT), the author says that his work is a "humble gurudakshina by an acolyte who owes him (EMS) a great deal of indebtedness both at the personal and intellectual levels." The author dedicated the book to Kerala Finance Minister Dr T M Issac Thomas who, he said, "was the exponent of the Decentralisation and the People's Plan Programme which were the foremost among the missions undertaken by the E M S during his final days ." More UNI SH RR RS2010