OBITUARY

Comrade Jhanjhan Lal (born December 14 1923 ) died on the night of 21 August at the age of 82 at Puranpur of Pilibhit district. He had started his political journey at a very young age and always remained at the forefront of struggles which led him to go to jail for many a time. As a member of the undivided CPI, he always adhered to and advocated the revolutionary line as against revisionist thoughts, and in ’70s joined the communist revolutionary upsurge of Naxalbari. Since then he remained a member of the CPI(ML) till his last – a committed and disciplined soldier of the Party.

He is well known as one of the founders of the revolutionary communist movement in the Pilibhit-Lakhimpur region of UP. He was a member of the regional committee that organized Party work in the districts of Terai region and some districts of Uttarakhand during the undergound days. He led many struggles of oppressed people in Pilibhit district of UP in his lifetime and many of these struggles saw success in providing poor people their most basic rights.

Popularly known among the people as "Chhote Mahashayji", he devoted his entire life to the cause of the people and remained active till his last. His quality to get integrated with comrades irrespective of their age and his urge to learn from the new experiences of other comrades made him very popular in the organisation. He had also donated a large piece of land to the Party for the purpose of building the Party office in Puranpur.

A memorial meeting was organised on 8 September in Puranpur which was attended by a large number of people from the district, who recalled his valuable contribution to the communist movement. It was also addressed by UP State Secretary Akhilendra Pratap Singh, Uttaranchal In-charge of Party Raja Bahuguna and CCM and Pilibhit District Secretary Krishna Adhikari.

Red Salute to Comrade Jhanjhan Lal!