When Kerala’s beloved Marxist stalwart VS Achuthanandan passed away on Monday, it wasn’t just the loss of a towering leader—it marked the end of an era where political dissent came laced with sharp wit and ideological clarity. Until his final years in active politics, Achuthanandan, who once led the state as Chief Minister, remained a relentless critic of corruption and compromise—no matter who stood accused.

‘Lavalin storm’ and the Gorbachev swipe at Pinarayi

In 2009, when his party colleague Pinarayi Vijayan came under scrutiny over the SNC-Lavalin corruption case, VS openly defied the CPM's official stand. While the party dismissed the case as “politically motivated,” Achuthanandan asserted:

“It will be fought legally and when he gets an opportunity to prove his innocence in court, it will be done.”

In a thinly veiled warning to the leadership, he added that the way forward was not through fighting the judiciary—a remark seen as a direct snub to the party line. But perhaps the sharpest jab came when Achuthanandan likened Vijayan to Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet leader often blamed for the USSR’s disintegration.

Borrowing Pinarayi’s own imagery of a leader as a drop gaining strength in the sea (the party), VS said:

“The storm named Gorbachev that emerged from the great sea, Soviet Union, finally destroyed the sea itself. Now, that same storm is hitting Kerala... Otherwise, the water in the bucket would have an altogether different story to tell.”

Rahul Gandhi branded ‘Amul Baby’

When Congress leader Rahul Gandhi mocked VS’s age during the 2011 elections—suggesting Kerala would have a 93-year-old CM if the Left was re-elected—Achuthanandan didn’t pull punches.

“Rahul Gandhi is an Amul Baby. He has come to Kerala to campaign for Amul Babies,”

he retorted at a rally in Palakkad, leaving the crowd in splits.

Taking the attack further, he recalled his own political initiation at age 16 and quoted a Malayalam poem, saying he had spent his youth without bowing to “the vassals of the corrupt order.”

Oommen Chandy’s face ‘slapped’ by courts and people

VS's trademark rhetoric came alive again in 2015 when he accused then CM Oommen Chandy of rampant corruption.

“The local body polls is an opportunity for the people to give a slap on one side of Chandy’s face, while the other side has been slapped enough number of times by the courts and election commissions.”

He alleged that Chandy profited from rising food prices and had received money from Saritha S Nair. Referring to scandals involving Chandy’s aides, he claimed that the CM, along with Natesan and the BJP, was attempting to rig the polls against the LDF.

‘Lotus can only wilt’: his final snub to the BJP

In 2016, when asked about BDJS founder Vellappally Natesan’s prediction of BJP-BDJS success in the Malampuzha constituency, the 93-year-old Marxist laughed off the threat.

“Many enemies have tried to defeat (me) in Malampuzha,” he said, refusing to name them. When Natesan said the “golden lotus” would bloom, VS snapped back:

“Lotus can only wilt in some ponds.”