Obituary

Comrade Harishankar Mall died in Deoria in his village on 11 December. He was 81. He was a veteran of the communist movement and district committee member of CPIML. He worked all his life for the people and for the communist party. He had joined CPI in his youth and participated in many anti-feudal struggles. Later he became disillusioned and inactive for a few years. He was inspired by the struggle of landless villagers in Bhatpar Rani area under CPIML leadership, and joined CPIML in 1995 and remained active till his last.

Veteran CPIML leader from Jharkhand’s Hazaribagh Comrade Bhaiyalal Besra passed away on January 2, 2023 at the age of 75 after battling illness. Comrade Bhaiyalal was born in Bundu village in remote jungle tribal area of Hazaribagh district. He studied up to 7th class in Bundu itself and later due to poverty, he had to quit his studies and started working as a porter and later as a driver. He came in contact with the party in late 1960s and later became a full time activist.

Comrade Anju Borkataki , former Assam state committee member of Assam state committee of CPML, State President of AIPWA, Editor of women’s magazine JONAKIR BAAT and former member of Assam state women commission (1996-98) passed away on 12 December.

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Professor Manager Pandey, renowned Hindi literary critic, writer and former President of Jan Sanskriti Manch. He passed away in Delhi on 6 November after a long illness. CPIML sends its heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and admirers. The legacy of Prof. Manager Pandey will live on in the continuing battle for freedom, social transformation and human emancipation.

Adieu, comrade Manager Pandey!

CPIML lost Comrade Laxmi Paswan, 70, a pillar of the Party in Darbhanga and the entire Mithila region for the last five decades. He passed away on 4 November at a private hospital in Samastipur. Beginning as a student activist in the 1974 movement, he spearheaded the battle for the dignity and rights of the oppressed people braving feudal violence and state repression including years of imprisonment and conviction in a false case.

​A long time member of CPIML in Delhi Comrade Rajpal suddenly succumbed to a brief spell of illness resulting from a cardiac stroke on 30 October. He was a member for more than three and a half decades and contributed immensely in building the party and the DTC Workers’ Unity Centre, one of the first transport workers’ unions in the national capital, during the decade of 1980s. He was still an employee of the Delhi Transport Corporation and was due to retire only next year.

Comrade Mozammel Haque, CPI(ML) Liberation Darjeeling District Committee member and Siliguri Local Committee Secretary as well as AICCTU Darjeeling District Secretary, passed away on the intervening night of 24-25 July due to cardiac attack. Comrade Mozammel was one of the prominent leaders of the anti-eviction movement in Chandmani tea garden from 1999 to 2003. He also played a crucial role in organising a sustained resistance struggle when the railway authorities issued eviction notice to the poor minority residents along the railway line.