By IANS,
Mumbai : Maharashtra Governor S.C. Jamir and Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh Friday expressed grief over the death of veteran communist leader Harkishan Singh Surjeet.
Surjeet, 92, died Friday at the Metro Hospital in Noida after a prolonged illness.
In a message, Jamir said Surjeet “was a frontline communist leader of India who played a significant role in the national politics of the country for more than six decades”.
A freedom fighter, farmers’ leader and an organization man, Surjeet remained committed to the ideals and philosophy of communism all this life, he said.
Jamir noted that as general secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Surjeet was instrumental in the formation of various coalition governments at the centre. In his demise, the nation has lost a grand patriarch of national politics.
Deshmukh said in the death of Surjeet, the nation has lost a man of great stature, an astute politician and a front-ranking leader of coalition politics.