Senior-most veteran communist leader of the Chambal region, Comrade Lal Singh Kushwaha, passed away at the age of 104 on 14 June 2011. He breathed his last in Gingrikh village of Mehgaon district.
He was one of the founders of the communist movement in the Gwalior zone (Bhind, Muraina, Gwalior). On 18 December 2009 at the age of 102, he was felicitated at the inauguration of the Bhind party office.
He had been active throughout the freedom struggle, defying the colonial regime’s ban on political activity by organizing many mass meetings and other political actions. He was also active in resisting the feudal royalty (the Scindia estate)which used to support the British.
After the division of the CPI in 1964, he joined the newly-formed CPI(M). The Naxalbari uprising disillusioned him with the CPI(M), and he helped build the CPI(ML) led by Charu Mazumdar. When the party was underground he organized peasantry and took up the challenge of party building among them.
Later, he remained active in the IPF too. Remarkably, he even campaigned for the party candidate from Gwalior throughout the campaign period in the last Assembly elections in MP, in spite of his advanced age and his ailing health.
Hearing of his demise, common people and communist activists thronged to bid him a last farewell. CPI(ML) Control Commission member Comrade Devendra Singh Chauhan and Bhind Zila Committee Secretary Comrade Suraj Rekha Tripathi placed the red flag on his body, amidst slogans befitting a revolutionary’s last journey. On 25 June, a memorial meet will be held at Bhind in his memory.
Red Salute to the departed comrade, who lived the longest life full of revolutionary spirit!
