CHENNAI: As hundreds gathered in Egmore to bid farewell to freedom fighter and veteran CPI leader R Nallakannu, it was the quiet presence of ordinary people — especially youngsters with little or indirect political affiliation — that defined the mood at the public homage and final procession.
“I called her. She’ll be here soon,” said Joyce, speaking to her college friends as they waited in the swelling crowd for a final glimpse of the centenarian leader. Moments later, Renuka joined them, and the four stood shoulder to shoulder among mourners, reflecting a generational curiosity about a leader many had only recently discovered.
“My father insisted I come, even if it meant bunking college,” said Yamuna, a Keralite living in Chennai. Calling Nallakannu “one of a kind,” she echoed her father’s description of him as “a rare earthly politician,” admired even by those outside his ideological fold.
The gathering was notable for the number of students unconnected to Left organisations. Many admitted they knew little about Nallakannu’s role in farmers’ movements or his work against caste oppression in southern Tamil Nadu. Yet, their reasons for attending were strikingly similar: a desire to witness the farewell of a leader they believed represented integrity in public life.
“He is a leader who walked villages, not just spoke on stages,” said Sachidhanantham (48), who took emergency leave from work to attend. Recalling his family’s experiences with caste discrimination, he said Nallakannu’s lifelong efforts against social injustice made his presence at the homage a personal obligation. His voice remained steady, though his eyes betrayed emotion.
Despite never cultivating celebrity status or mass political spectacle, Nallakannu drew long queues of mourners cutting across party lines and age groups. People purchased floral tributes, waited patiently for hours, and lingered after paying respects, reflecting on a life marked by simplicity, conviction and unwavering commitment to social justice.
Among the crowd, veteran CPI and CPM cadres were seen engaging with younger attendees, asking why they had come and whether the ideals associated with the Communist movement would endure. For some older cadres, the scene symbolised both loss and continuity, with one breaking down as he spoke about the passing of a legacy to a new generation.
Nallakannu’s public life — as a freedom fighter, advocate for the oppressed, campaigner against sand smuggling and soft-spoken yet resolute Communist leader — is well documented. However, it was the steady, unaffiliated crowd at his farewell that underscored the broader imprint of his politics.
The veteran leader’s final journey concluded with the fulfilment of his wish to donate his body to Madras Medical College for research, a gesture consistent with the modest and purposeful life remembered by those who gathered to bid him goodbye.