Leaders and activists of many Left parties, trade unions and democratic organizations, as well as teachers, workers, and students paid homage to Comrade Swapan Mukherjee, CPI(ML) Politburo member and noted leader of the trade union movement, before his funeral on 7 September 2016. Comrade Swapan had passed away on 6 September of a sudden cardiac arrest.
Comrade Swapan’s body was laid out in state, wrapped in the red flag and wreathed in flowers, in the CPI(ML)’s Central Office this morning. Among those who paid homage to him were CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI(M) Politburo member Prakash Karat, CPI National Secretariat member Amarjeet Kaur, Mangat Ram Pasla, Secretary CPM (Punjab); Uday Bhat, Lal Nishan Party (Leninist); Amaresh Kumar, Central Committee member, All India Forward Bloc and Dharmendra Verma, Delhi State General Secretary of All India Forward Bloc; CPI(M) Central Committee member Pushpendra Grewal; RK Sharma, SUCI(C) and National Secretary, AIUTUC; noted rights activist John Dayal; ND Pancholi of PUCL; CITU General Secretary Tapan Sen and Swadesh Debroy, CITU; AITUC leaders DL Sachdeva and Vijaylakshmi; TUCC National Secretary AK Mishra; NTUI General Secretary Gautam Mody; CPI(M) Delhi State Secretary KM Tiwary; CITU Delhi State General Secretary Anurag Saxena; Leena Dabiru of AIPF and many others. All expressed condolences to Comrade Swapan’s wife Comrade Sharmila, his son Soubhik and daughter Upasana, as well as other members of his family.
Professor Vinod Khurana, journalists Urmilesh, Anand Swaroop Varma and Anil Chamadia, cultural activists Shamsul Islam, Neelima and Shubhendu Sen, Professor Vijay Singh and several others who knew him as an activist since his days as a student of Kirorimal College, Delhi University in the 1970s, also attended the funeral.
CPI(ML) PB members Swadesh Bhattacharya, Ramji Rai, Kumarasami, Kartick Pal, Prabhat Kumar, and Kavita Krishnan, CCMs Manoj Bhakta, Vinod Singh from Jharkhand, Ravi Rai and Sanjay Sharma from Delhi, Rajendra Pratholi and Raja Bahuguna from Uttarakhand, Mohammad Salim from UP, Gurmeet Singh, Rajvinder Singh Rana from Punjab, AIKM General Secretary Rajaram Singh, AICCTU General Secretary Rajiv Dimri, AISA National President Sucheta De, RYA General Secretary Om Prasad, AIPWA leaders Iqbal Udasi and Jasbir Kaur, Haryana in-charge of CPI(ML) Prem Singh Gehlawat, Chandigarh Secretary of CPI(ML) Kanwaljeet, AIKM leader from Rajasthan Phoolchand Dhewa, Comrades Sukhdarshan Nat and Bhagwant Samaon from Punjab, Kapil Sharma of Sangwari paid homage to Comrade Swapan.
On his final journey to the cremation grounds, Comrade Swapan’s pallbearers included several young women comrades whom he had mentored – Comrades Aditi, Navkiran, Eisha and Abhilasha. All Delhi leaders and cadres of CPI(ML) bid goodbye to Comrade Swapan with rousing slogans.
Comrades Shamsul Islam and Neelima presented revolutionary songs saluting the red flag and the departed and martyred comrades. Comrade Swapan’s last journey and cremation were accompanied with the singing of the Internationale.
On 6 September a memorial meeting was held in the Bihar State CPI(ML) office at Patna, which was addressed by party GS Comrade Dipankar as well as Bihar-based CCMs of the party. A memorial meeting was held in Chandigarh where comrades pledged to take forward Comrade Swapan’s unfinished work.
Memorial meetings on 8 September were held by AICCTU and CPI(ML) all over Jharkhand including at Ranchi, Ganday, Dhanbad, Jai Nagar, Bagodar,Garhwa, Jamua, Giridih, Sariya, Rajdhanwar, Vengabad, Kumardhubi, Godda, Bokaro, Domchanch, Koderma as well as by Mugma Area Motor Workers’ Union.
A silent procession was held at Puducherry from the CPI(ML) State Office at Bharathi Street to Martyrs Square (where 11 Swadeshi Mills Workers were killed by the then French imperialist army while agitating for an 8-hour day). S.Purushothaman, State General Secretary AICCTU, S.Balasubramanian, State Secretary CPI(ML) , Balasundaram, CCM, CPI(ML), R.Viswanathan, State Secretary CPI, Dinesh Ponniah,. AITUC, State General Secretary, Sivandavan, State Secretary LLF (Trade Union Front of VCK), Ramamurthy, BKMU, All India General Secretary, Liaquat Ali, Advisory Council Member AIPF, Gabriel, State President MLF, Ramesh, Leader PMK Trade Union Front spoke at the memorial meeting. R. Rajangam, State Secretary CPI(M) conveyed his condolence message.
