29/09/2024
Pushpan (54), survivor of 1994 Koothuparamba Police firing, passes away. He was receiving treatment for the past two months and breathed his last at the Baby Memorial Hospital, Kozhikode. Police opened firing on DYFI activists on November 25, 1994 at Koothuparamba in Kannur district of Kerala, who were staging a protest against the educational policy of the then Congress led United Democratic Front (UDF) government. Five activists Comrades KK Rajeevan, Madhu, Shibulal, Babu and Roshan were killed in the firing. About six workers, including 24 year old Com Pushpan was injured. A bullet struck Com Pushpan in the back of the neck, damaging his spinal cord and leaving him paralyzed from the neck down. He remained bedridden as a ‘living martyr', for over the last three decades. He was a member of North Menapram branch
Expressing condolences, the Kerala chief minister and CPIM Polit Bureau Member Com Pinarayi Vijayan said, Pushpan was an answer to the question of what communism is. “His life made us understand the greatness of a revolutionary. He was an immortal symbol of sacrifice and humanity. The loss of a comrade has created a personal sorrow for me. I share the pain of the comrades and the family,” he said.