Comrade Sarbjit Johal (62), longstanding activist of the London-based South Asia Solidarity Group and a great friend and well-wisher of CPI(ML) passed away in a London hospital on 9 October morning. She had been battling cancer for more than a decade.
Many of us first met her in February 1992 when she attended the Vijayawada conference of the Indian People's Front. That was the beginning of her long association with the CPI(ML) movement. In subsequent years she attended conferences of the All India Progressive Women's Association and the 10th and 11th Congresses of the CPI(ML) in Mansa (March 2018) and Patna (February 2023) respectively.
Sarbjit worked as a teacher for many years and inspired many young people. Always a creative activist, she also became an artist in the 2000s. Most of her paintings are inspired by protests and struggles of the people. From the protests against massacres in Bihar and the anti-rape movement of 2012-13 to the Shaheen Bagh protests, farmers' movement and the ongoing international solidarity campaign for Palestine in recent years, her paintings exuded energy, compassion and courage. Even a few days before she became completely bed-ridden she was drawing sketches to support an anti-JCB campaign against demolitions.
CPI(ML) expresses profound sorrow at the passing of Comrade Sarbjit and conveys deepest condolences to her daughter Chandni and all her comrades and friends. Rest in power, Comrade Sarbjit!
