OBITUARY

Obituary

Comrade Mohan Upaydhyaya

Comrade Mohan Upaydhyaya of Bargang, Sonitpur, Assam passed away after a battle with cancer on 20 April 2007 at the age of 59. Associated with CPI(ML) since 1976, Comrade Mohan Upaydhyaya was a leading organizer in the Behali area. Popularly known as ‘Mohanda’, he was a Government employee who never hesitated to assert his political identity.
His memory will always inspire us.
Red Salute to Comrade Mohan Upaydhyaya!

Comrade Hayat Singh Hazara

Comrade Hayat Singh Hazara passed away on 3 May after a prolonged illness. He was 66. Hazara ji, as he was popularly known, dedicated his entire life to the struggles of the people in Uttarakhand. He became an active member of the undivided CPI at an early age. For a brief while, in between, to support his family, he also worked as a clerk in a bus company but subsequently abandoned it to devote more time to communist work. In the course of debates within the Left movement, he joined the CPI-M and then CPI(ML). He actively participated in the land-seizure movement in Terai and later in the forest movement and ‘nasha nahi rozgar do’ movement. In 1990 he came in contact with our party and till his death remained a committed member.
Hazaraji spent a major part of his life in Ramnagar, Nainital district, where he was known and respected as a revolutionary. When he later decided to move to his village Dhaneta (Syaldeh block, Almora district), he continued his involvement in public affairs and got elected as a BDC member from the area. As a BDC member, Congress and BJP leaders tried to get him to cast his vote for Block pramukh by offering lakhs of rupees in return but he gave them a firm rebuttal by campaigning for their boycott. In spite of living in penury, he set an example by emphatically opposing and exposing these elements, thus inspiring people with his political commitment and strength of purpose. He will continue to be an inspiration for generations of communists.
Hazara ji was undergoing treatment in Delhi in his last days. In spite of his rapidly deteriorating fragile health, he made it a point to participate in the Inquilab Rally on 23 March as a last wish.
Red Salute to Comrade Hayat Singh Hazara! Long live his legacy in the hills of Uttrakhand!

Comrade Rakesh Singh

Comrade Rakesh Singh, aged 23, represented the second generation of communists. A son of Comrade Hayat Singh Hazara, Rakesh succumbed to his injuries, along with his elder brother, when his taxi collided head-on with a truck near Gajraula in UP on May 5. He and his brother were returning from Delhi to their village in Uttarakhand with the remains of their father, Comrade Hayat Singh Hazara, who had died a day earlier.
Though Rakesh had come to Delhi to earn a living, he gradually became an important branch member of the Delhi State Office. Working with a restaurant chain and, simultaneously, pursuing a degree from Delhi University through correspondence, he cheerfully did all the quiet, behind-the-scenes work that make any campaign or programme possible. He lost his job last year for taking leave on May Day. This year again, inspite of a new job, he preferred to attend the May Day rally and carried placards, flags and other materials to the venue of the programme. He had played a commendable role in the preparations for the 23 March Inquilab rally.
A condolence meeting was held in his memory at the party’s central office on 7 May which was attended by a large number of party members. The loss of soft spoken, loving, enthusiastic and hardworking Rakesh will always be felt by the comrades in Delhi. And his life will surely inspire the younger comrades.
Red Salute to Comrade Rakesh Singh!