Thrissur: Senior CPM leader and former state secretariat member Baby John passed away at the age of 75 following a prolonged illness.

A prominent face of the CPM in Thrissur, Baby John was a former party district secretary and a noted orator. Professionally a teacher at Blangad PVMLP School, his political career began in 1969 with Left-wing movements before he formally joined the party in 1971.

Over the decades, he held key organisational roles, serving as Paluvai branch secretary, and local committee secretary in Thaikkad and Chavakkad. Between 1984 and 1997, he served as the Chavakkad area secretary. He joined the district committee in 1986, became a district secretariat member in 1997, and eventually assumed charge as CPM Thrissur district secretary in July 2006. In 2011, he contested the Kerala Assembly election from the Manalur constituency.

During the Emergency, Baby John was jailed for two and a half months. He faced severe police brutality for attempting to raise a black flag on Independence Day in 1975 and was arrested twice under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act/Defence of India Rules (DIR).

When the Chavakkad Municipality was formed, he served as a councillor and its first standing committee chairman (1980–85), and was re-elected as a councillor in 1988.

He is survived by wife Sheela and three children – Manavan, Himavan (Chavakkad Service Co-operative Bank) and Angana (Ayyanthole Co-operative Bank).