Centenarian freedom fighter Ayyappan Pillai passes away
Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 5: Veteran freedom fighter, eminent lawyer and one of the early leaders of the BJP in the state, K Ayyappan Pillai passed away in the city at the age of 107 years, family sources said on Wednesday.
He was not keeping well for some time due to age-related ailments and was under treatment for some health issues at a private hospital here, they said.
A prominent personality in the socio-cultural arena of the state capital for several decades and a public figure commanding respect across party lines, Pillai was one of the senior most members of the bar associations in the country. The centenarian was also the one of the first councillors of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation.
An ardent admirer of the 'Father of the Nation", Mahatma Gandhi, he had actively participated in the Quit India movement. It was as per the advise of the Mahatma that Pillai ventured into the public service in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore at a tender age.
A supporter of Travancore State Congress, formed under local chapter of Indian National Congress in 1938, State Congress leaders assigned him to present people's grievances before the royal administration on many occasions.
He had acted as mediator between the royal administration and Congress when many of its leaders were jailed immediately after Independence, when the then diwan C P Ramaswamy Iyer propped up the idea of 'independent Travancore'.
Pillai later moved to Praja Socialist Party and then to the BJP, in which he served as the vice-president for some time.
Pillai had been in news some years ago as a person who had never failed to exercise his democratic right in any of the elections after Independence.
Pillai, in an interview to PTI earlier, had said his first vote was cast on February 1948 to select representatives to the Constituent Assembly of the 'responsible government' in Tranvancore. This Assembly was later given powers of a Legislative Assembly based on the request of leaders.
"I cast my first vote at a polling station, set up at a military camp of the Travancore State Force at Pangode here. I also worked as a polling agent then," he had said adding that he had since then voted in all the polls held.
They include the first election after the formation of Travancore-Cochin state, the first Parliament election in the country in 1951-52, the first state election in the united Kerala in 1957, after amalgamation of Travancore-Cochin with Malabar, which was part of composite Madras state.
Though he contested in the BJP ticket from Thiruvananthapuram during 1980s, he could not win.
Condoling his death, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said besides being a prominent socio-political activist, Pillai also made his mark as an eminent lawyer.
BJP state president K Surendran, in his condolence message, remembered Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called Pillai over phone during the time of the lockdown last year.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
