Recalling the episode in a letter to his fellow communist Balraj, Balan wrote: “She waited for me for 12 years. A gifted orator and writer, Balan spent several years underground after the Communist Party was banned. When the Communist Party split in 1964, he remained with the CPI. After his expulsion from the university and release from prison, Balan worked among railway workers at Ponmalai. While lodged in Madurai Prison, Balan undertook a fast unto death along with 13 other communists convicted in the case.