Coimbatore :

Parvathi Krishnan was at ease addressing trade union meetings outside textile mills and tea estates in Coimbatore and Valparai, rubbing shoulders with the partisans during the Spanish Civil War or roaming with the brightest minds in Paris when the Nazis were at the doorsteps during World War II. She was a rebel and a non-conformist of pure grit and sheer determination, who led a dynamic life until she passed away at her residence here in Coimbatore on Thursday morning.

As a student at Oxford and later as a key organiser of student movements in Paris and London, Parvathi Krishnan had travelled extensively in war-time Europe and counted among her close friends former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Jyoti Basu, a fellow communist who later became chief minister of West Bengal for 24 consecutive years. She returned to India in 1942 and married Krishnan whom she met in Britain. She too went underground when the undivided CPI was banned in 1948 along with her brother, late Mohan Kumaramangalam, who too was then in the communist movement. Mohan later joined the Congress and was a member of the Indira Gandhi cabinet in the 1970s.

The Krishnans shifted base to Coimbatore in 1953 and began a long political and social association with the region. She engaged actively with the tea estate workers in Valparai. She won three Lok Sabha elections from Coimbatore constituency and one of her memorable moments in Parliament was when she forced the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai to apologize for his remarks against women in Parliament. She even underwent a prison term in the 1970s — the only woman political prisoner in Tihar Jail in 1974 — when she was arrested for participating in the landmark Railway Strike.

“Parvathi Krishnan and Renu Chakravarthy (CPI MP and wife of iconic journalist Nikhil Chakravarthy) were among the few women leaders in their days who always made it a point to be directly involved in political action. Woman rights should not be discussed in isolation and they were a great source of inspiration to many women following their footsteps,” said Vaigai of the CPI.

Social historian V Geetha said Parvathi Krishnan represented a remarkable aspect of the CPI in the 1940s and ’50s in Tamil Nadu, when a large number of women worked in the working class movement. These women participated in the numerous workers’ movements and struggles, worked among agricultural workers and beedi workers etc, and went to jail as well. Much of the leadership of the party then was drawn from the middle class. The political activism of Parvathi Krishnan and her contemporaries like Pappa Umanath, Shajathi and Janakiamma or a pioneering activist like Manalur Maniamma, a brahmin widow who worked among farm labour and dalits in Thanjavur, ought to be seen in this context. These women came from diverse backgrounds and through their work in the Communist Party linked women’s issues with issues of land, labour, social emancipation.

Geetha recalled that Parvathi Krishnan’s parents, P Subbarayan and mother Radhabai, were active in the politics of pre-independent India. Radhabai was active in the national movement and the family engaged with issues of social justice that helped Parvati develop an understanding of the caste question while being active in the communist movement.

Parvathi Krishnan lived at her residence on West Periasamy Road here in RS Puram with the couple, P S Chandrasekaran and wife, Geetha. Her daughter, Indrani Dasgupta, her husband and daughter Poornima Dasgupta are in the US. There were more than one portrait of her daughter and grand daughter in her bedroom besides a TV and a collection of English DVDs. John Grisham to books of ancient Indian history lined up the shelves in the drawing room. “She used to read a lot but was confined to bed for the last couple of months. She had some respiratory problems for the past few days. She used to love having vanilla ice creams, but we stopped giving it ot her a couple of weeks ago as it was affecting her health. She also loved mashed apple slices mixed with ice cream,” said Chandrasekaran, who has been with Parvati Krishnan since 1997.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimbatore / TNN / February 21st, 2014