V.S. Achuthanandan’s mortal remains moved to Durbar Hall at Secretariat to lie in state

Former Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan’s mortal remains were moved to the iconic Durbar Hall at the Secretariat to lie in state for the public to pay homage on Tuesday (July 22, 2025).

Scores of workers walked alongside the hearse from the veteran communist leader’s residence near Barton Hill in Thiruvananthapuram to the Secretariat precincts. Ministers and top party apparatchiks accompanied the hearse in their official cars. People lined up on the street to watch the procession go by, several hailing the departed leader by raising revolutionary slogans. 

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] general secretary M.A. Baby, and CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan escorted the body into the chandeliered hall, built in the Indo-Saracenic style by the rulers of the erstwhile princely State of Travancore in 1869. 

Hundreds of people, including leaders cutting across the political aisle, lined up outside the hall to pay their last respects to Mr. Achuthanandan. Many described to reporters how it was an “emotional experience” to see the iconic communist for the final time. Scores raised their fists as they filed past Mr. Achuthanandan’s coffin. Mr. Vijayan and his Cabinet colleagues occupied seats set aside for them near the coffin. Mr. Achuthanandan’s son, V.S. Arun Kumar, was present.

Mr. Achuthanandan will lie in state till 2 p.m., after which party workers will escort the body in a cavalcade of vehicles to Alappuzha. The cortege will stop at several points along the route for the public to pay homage. 

The government has declared a holiday for educational institutions, government offices, State-run undertakings and statutory bodies on Tuesday as a mark of respect for the departed leader. It has declared a three-day state of mourning, during which the national flag will fly at half-mast.