CPI(M ) Polit Bureau has issued the following statement on November 22THE Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses its deep grief at the passing away of Comrade Sukomal Sen, chairman of the Central Control Commission and ex-officio member of the Central Committee.  Sukomal Sen died after a long illness.  He was aged 83.Sukomal Sen joined the Party in 1952.  He was the organiser and builder of the State Government Employees movement in the country.  He served as the general secretary of the All India State Government Employees Federation from 1982 to 2008.

COMRADE Subodh Mehta, veteran leader of CITU and CPI(M) Gujarat committee, passed away on September 1, at Bhavnagar at the age of 90 Years. He was the icon of various movements in Gujarat. He fought many battles for the people of Gujarat. During Maha Gujarat movement, he had played an important role with Lt. Shri Indulal Yagnik. On September 2, his body was kept at the CITU office in Bhavnagar. Thousands of people paid tributes to Subodh Mehta. Shaktisinh Gohel, national leader of Congress also visited the place.

THE state secretary of the Goa state organizing committee of the CPI(M), Comrade Thalmann Pradeep Pereira passed away at a hospital  on August 6, after a five day battle with a severe lung infection and multiple organ failure. He was 54 years old. Com Thalmann Pereira was born and brought up in the communist movement of Goa. His father Comrade Gerard Pereira, a prominent freedom fighter, was the founder of the Left trade union and communist movement in Goa.

SOUTH African liberation movement paid tribute to veteran leader Ahmed Kathrada who died on March 28, aged 87 after a long illness. Kathrada was one of the 11 original defendants at the 1963-64 Rivonia trial alongside ANC president Nelson Mandela and general secretary Walter Sisulu. He was imprisoned for 26 years on the notorious Robben Island prison off Cape Town alongside scores of ANC leaders.

COMRADE R Govindarajan, a senior leader of the All India Insurance Employees Association (AIIEA), and editorial board member of the “Marxist” (Tamil) monthly magazine of the Tamil Nadu state committee of the CPI(M),  breathed his last on February 18, 2017.Com R Govindarajan, fondly called RG by the insurance employees throughout the country, worked in various positions of AIIEA for more than 40 years.