determination to wherever he went. Ever since his student days when he became a professional revolutionary responding to Comrade Charu Mazumdar’s call in the stormy aftermath of Naxalbari, and turned from Narendra Shah into Comrade Ashok, he never said no to any Party work, however challenging and thankless. Comrade Ashok was a quintessential product of Naxalbari and CPI(ML). He was a promising student of Mathematics in the prestigious Patna Science College when he gave up his formal education and plunged headlong into revolutionary communist activities. In spite of his obvious intellectual calibre, he had not an iota of intellectual arrogance and his social conduct gave away absolutely no hint that he came from one of the most dominant castes in Bihar. With great humility and ideological conviction, he went about his job of getting integrated with the landless rural poor of Bihar and unleashing their revolutionary initiative.
He had a great aptitude and insatiable hunger for learning, for deriving knowledge from all sources and in all conditions. This is why he could work so easily in different states and different settings. For several years in the 1980s when he was based in Maharashtra, he delved deep into the rich history and tradition of social movements in the state and became as conversant with Ambedkar and Phule as with Lenin and Mao. His readiness to learn and respect for others enabled him to develop a wide range of contacts even while working as an underground organiser.
During the four decades of his revolutionary journey, Ashokji worked in different organisational capacities. In the 1980s he was a member of the CC. In the subsequent years, he remained involved mostly in the work of research, education and publication, away from the ‘mainstream’ committee structures in Party offices in Delhi and Patna. Yet he had no complaints, he would never grudge any work, never resent the fact that he was formally not on any leading committee of the Party. And he would be ever ready to take up any new assignment, be it looking after the election campaign in Katihar district where our Party organisation is still very weak in spite of considerable political influence and popularity enjoyed by our comrades or guiding the Party group of Bihar legislators for a more informed intervention in debates in the Assembly.
Comrade Ashok’s simplicity and dedication to work, and his tremendous energy, enthusiasm and intellectual activism will remain a shining example for all of us to emulate in our own lives. Adieu, Ashokji!