The CPM urged former Kerala health minister KK Shailaja to turn down the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award because it is instituted in the name of a 'communist oppressor'.

CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and party state secretary MV Govindan put across this point on Sunday.

Govindan said the party has a clear idea of who Ramon Magsaysay -- former president of the Philippines -- was. "He was the biggest anti-communist in the world who strongly oppressed hundreds of labourers of the communist movement," said Govindan.

"Don't try to insult the party by offering an award in such a person's name to a central committee member of the party," he added.

Earlier in the day, Yechury had two other reasons besides rewinding Magsaysay's “history of brutal oppression of the communists in the Philippines”.

He said Shailaja had been considered for the award for her contributions to the health department in Kerala during the Nipah outbreak in 2018 and during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"That was a collective effort of the LDF government and the Department of Health in Kerala so it was not an individual effort," Yechury said.

His third reason was that the Magsaysay award hasn't been given to active politicians, but Shailaja is one. "Comrade Shailaja is a member of our central committee, which is the highest decision-making body of our party and she is active in politics," said Yechury.