By IANS,
New Delhi : The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Friday expressed profound grief over the death of veteran Marxist leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet, describing him as a “master tactician” who had fought a lifelong fight against communalism.
“The politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) records with profound grief the passing away of Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet, veteran leader of the CPI(M), an outstanding figure of the Communist movement of the country and prominent national politician,” said a statement issued here Friday.
Surjeet, 93, died after a prolonged illness on Friday at the Metro Hospital in Noida.
“He was a master tactician who could translate the party’s political line into practice, implementing it with great skill and innovation. His was a lifelong fight against communalism,” the party said.
“He was one of the first leaders who recognised the threat posed by the rise of the communal forces to the secular principle of the Indian State,” the statement added.
In his death, the party has lost an outstanding leader and the country an authoritative representative of the Left and secular tradition, the politburo stated in the condolence resolution.
Surjeet was one of the leaders who fought against revisionism and constituted the core of the leadership who went on to form the CPI-M, it said.
He played a crucial role in 1989, 1996 and 2004 in creating the political formations and the setting up of governments, which excluded the communal forces, the party stated.
The communist leader worked tirelessly for the defence of democratic and secular values and to see that India maintained its non-aligned and independent foreign policy.
“The entire party will cherish and uphold the ideology and principles for which Harkishan Singh Surjeet dedicated his life. The politburo pays respectful homage to this outstanding Communist and beloved leader,” the statement added.