Kannur, Monday, March 22, 2010: The State remembers the great Communist leader AK.Gopalan on his 33rd death anniversary. A floral tribute was paid at the AKG’s statue at Kannur today by the party members. The State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, and other leaders of the party took part in the observance. He died on the same day in the year 1977.

Ayillyath Kuttiari Gopalan Nambiar popularly known as A.K Gopalan or AKG was born into a Nambiar family on 1 October 1904 in Kannur District of Northern Kerala and educated in Tellichery. In 1927 he joined the Indian National Congress and began playing an active role in the Khadi Movement and the upliftment of Harijans. Later he became a member of the Communist Party of India when it finally took shape in Kerala in 1939.

He was imprisoned during the second world war and got released a few weeks after the Independence . Thereafter he became a member of Lok Sabha for 5 consecutive terms till his death on March 22, 1977 and became the first leader of opposition in the parliament of India.

AKG joined the new break away faction, which later came to be known as Communist Party of India ( Marxist). He also wrote extensively. His autobiography In the Cause of the People has been translated into many languages. His other works include For Land, Around the World, Work in Parliament, and Collected Speeches, all in Malayalam.

AKG was married to Susheela Gopalan, an Ezhava, who was a prominent Marxist and trade union activist.