U. Kalanathan, rationalist leader and former president of the Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham (KYS), died at his house at Vallikkunnu in the early hours of March 7 (Thursday). He was 84. He was ailing for a few weeks.
His body was donated to the Government Medical College, Kozhikode, after people from different walks of life paid him tributes at his house and at Vallikkunnu grama panchayat.
He was State president and secretary of the Kerala Yukthivadi Sangham for several years. He was national secretary of the Federation of Indian Rationalist Associations (FIRA), an umbrella body of rationalist, sceptic, atheist and secularist organisations from across the country.
A science teacher at Umbichi Haji Higher Secondary School, Chaliyam, until 1995, Kalanathan was a social activist and was in the forefront of promoting the mangrove ecosystem at Kadalundi and Vallikkunnu.
He was a member of the CPI(M) until 1984, but remained an independent thinker with a leftist vision until his death.
He was president of Vallikkunnu grama panchayat for two terms, from 1979 to 1984 and from 1995 to 2000.
He won the Kerala Sahitya Academy award for his overall contributions to Malayalam language and literature in 2019. His published works include Is the Soul Real or a Myth?; Religion is the Enemy of Social Progress; Islam and Rationalism; The Evolution of Life; and Secularism and Uniform Civil Code.
He is survived by his wife, M.K. Shobhana, and son Shameer.
