Kochi: Simon Britto, who died in Thrissur on Monday, was like a great wall of the CPM party. Quite aptly, his life is encapsulated in the title of his first novel – ‘Agragami’—meaning a person who is a step ahead of others. Britto never flinched when he was stabbed following clashes between students’ unions on the Maharaja’s College campus 35 years ago, but was inconsolable when SFI activist Abhimanyu, who was like a son to him, fell victim to the violent students’ politics on the same campus in July, 2018.
Britto, who hails from Vaduthala in Ernakulam district, came to the forefront of the SFI, the students’ wing of the CPM, in the 1970s. He graduated from St. Albert’s College, and later pursued law studies at Mithila University in Bihar, which he discontinued.
Britto became SFI state vice-president after he returned to Kochi as a law student. Britto was paralysed from waist down after he sustained serious stab injuries on October 14, 1983, when campus politics was passing through a turbulent phase. Ten years after the incident, Britto’s life took a turn for the better as he married SFI activist Seena Bhaskar after a brief courtship.
Injustice was anathema to Britto, and he would always raise his voice against unjust acts.
Meanwhile, Britto scripted history when he was made the Anglo-Indian representative in the Kerala Assembly during 2006-2011. To a query on becoming MLA through nomination rather than through elections, Britto once said, “My politics can’t be confined to one constituency. The whole state is my constituency and I am an MLA of Kerala.” His father Nicholas Rodrigues was a CPM MLA between 1987 and 1991.
Libraries were an elixir for the wheelchair-bound Britto whose inspiration was the literary couple Ponjikara Rafi and Sabeena, who were his neighbours during his childhood days at Ponjikara. The couple, who was childless, was fond of Britto and considered him as their son.
Britto nursed a personal grievance though he was active in public life through writing and speeches. He always wanted CPM leader E M S Namboothiripad to write a forward to his first novel, but the party icon passed away just before the book was completed.
Britto got associated with the Communist party during his students days in Bihar. Then, he stayed with needy farmers at the district committee office of the Kisan Sabha, and his first novel, Agragami, revolves around that period. The protagonist of the novel repeats a telling dialogue twice: “Who is on the funeral pyre? Is it a martyr?”
Body to be donated to medical college
The mortal remains of Simon Britto will be handed over to the Kalamassery Medical College. CPM state secretariat member P Rajeev, in his facebook post, has said that Britto had instructed his wife Seena to donate his body after his death to the medical college for medical studies. He also wished that no should lay wreaths on his body.
Abhimanyu’s mentor
Slain SFI activist Abhimanyu had a special place in Britto’s heart. Britto was a saviour and guiding light to Abhimanyu who came to Kochi from Idukki to pursue his studies. Britto first met Abhimanyu, who was the SFI Idukki district committee member, when the former came to the Maharaja’s campus to participate in a talk show organised by a TV channel. They had a special bond, and Abhimanyu became a regular at Britto’s home.
“Our bondage firmed up when Abhimanyu came to jot down my experiences on travelling in a wheel chair across India. My mom, who visited me occasionally, was fond of him. He used to play with my daughter Nilavu. He will come to my home on Friday and return to college on Monday with the food cooked by my wife Seena,” Britto once said about his association with Abhimanyu.
Britto, along with his daughter Nilavu, went to Maharaja’s college campus when he came to know that Abhimanyu was stabbed. Abhimanyu’s classmates still remember a crestfallen Britto sitting in a wheelchair and kissing the right hand of Abhimanyu with fatherly affection when the body was brought to the campus.
After Abhimanyu’s death, Britto also visited his one-room house at Vattavada in Idukki district. Abhimanyu’s family members are grief-stricken following the death of Britto and are planning to visit Kochi.
