Chennai : R. Umanath, a veteran leader of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), died Wednesday in Trichirapalli in Tamil Nadu.
A member of the CPI-M’s politburo in 1991-2008, Umanath was 92. He also served as a member of the Tamil Nadu state committee for several years.
Umanath joined the undivided Communist Party of India while studying at Annamalai University in 1939. He quit his studies to become a full time party member.
During the independence struggle, he was convicted in the Madras conspiracy case and imprisoned for two and a half years. Umanath spent a total of nine and a half years in jails.
He also spent seven years in the underground movement.
A powerful speaker in Tamil and English, Umanath was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1962 and 1967. He was a member of Tamil Nadu assembly twice.
He was instrumental in building the trade union movement in Tamil Nadu. He was the national vice president of the CITU till 2010.