New Delhi, 7 September 2016
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. 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, Anand Swaroop Verma, senior journalist and left intellectual 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 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, S Kumarasami, Kartick Pal, Prabhat Kumar, and Kavita Krishnan, CCMs Manoj Bhakta, Vinod Singh from Jharkhand, Yudhishthir Mahapatra from Odisha, 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 Singh, 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.
A memorial meeting for Comrade Swapan Mukherjee will be held at Constitution Club, New Delhi on 16th September.
– Prabhat Kumar
Member, Politburo
