Members and Former Members of Central Committee

The 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) pays homage to the memory of:

Nirupam Sen: A former member of the Polit Bureau and an outstanding leader of the Party. He died on December 24, 2018 after a prolonged illness at the age of 72.

Beginning his political life as a student activist, Nirupam Sen joined the Party in 1964 and played an active role in various struggles of the peasantry and the working class in Burdwan district. He played a key role in expanding the Party in Burdwan district where he served as the secretary of the district committee from 1989 to 1995.  He was elected to the West Bengal state committee in 1985 and to the Central Committee in 1998 and to the Polit Bureau in 2008. 

He was the Industry and Commerce Minister in the Left Front government for two terms.  Nirupam Sen was an articulate exponent of Marxism and wrote extensively for Party papers.

K Varadarajan: A former member of the Polit Bureau and a special invitee to the Central Committee of the Party. He died on May 16, 2020.  He was 73 years old.

Varadarajan joined the Party in 1970. He became a member of the Tamilnadu State Committee of the Party in 1978 and of the Central Committee in 1998. He functioned from the Party Centre in Delhi as a member of the Central Secretariat and as a Polit Bureau member from 2002 to 2015.

Working in the Kisan Sabha, Varadarajan was elected as the Secretary of the Tamilnadu unit of the All India Kisan Sabha in 1986 and went on to become its all India General Secretary in 1998.

Varadarajan remained underground for two years during the Emergency and was also arrested and jailed.

Bijan Dhar: A member of the Central Committee and former Secretary of the Tripura State Committee of the Party. He died on October 11, 2021 while undergoing treatment for Covid. He was 70 years old.

Bijan Dhar was actively involved in the student movement in the 1970s.  He was elected to the State Committee of the Party in 1978 and as the Secretary of the Tripura State Committee of the Party in 2008. He was elected to the Central Committee of the Party in 2002. As Secretary of the State Committee for nearly a decade, he made an important contribution to building the Party organisation.

During the Emergency in 1975-77, he had remained underground for more than a year before he was subsequently arrested and jailed for five months.

Gautam Das: A member of the Central Committee and Secretary of the Tripura State Committee of the Party. He died on September 16, 2021 while undergoing treatment for Covid. He was 70 years old.

He was the founding editor of daily Desharkatha in 1979, a responsibility he discharged with distinction until 2015. He was also very active in the cultural movement and was founder secretary of the Tripura Sanskriti Samanway Kendra.

He joined the Party in 1968, was elected to the Tripura State Committee in 1986, to the State Secretariat in 1994 and as its Secretary in 2018. He was elected to the Central Committee at the 21^st Congress of the Party in 2015.

Shyamal Chakraborty: A member of the Central Committee of the Party died of Covid related complications on August 6, 2020. He was 77 years old.

Shyamal Chakraborty joined the undivided Communist Party in 1960. He was elected to the West Bengal Legislative assembly for four times and served as Minister for Transport for nine years. He was also elected to the Rajya Sabha for a term.  

He was associated with various unions of workers. He discharged responsibilities in the Centre of Indian Trade Unions in various capacities including serving as the President of its West Bengal unit.

He was elected to the state Committee of the Party in 1978 and the Central Committee in 2002. He was jailed for a period of a year and stayed underground for six months.

Mahendra Singh: A member of the Central Committee and a veteran leader of the Party in Maharashtra died on July 4. He was 77 years old.

He joined the CPI(M) in 1971 and was elected to the CPI(M) Maharashtra state committee in 1987, to the state secretariat in 1991, and to the Central Committee in 2015. He remained in these positions till his death. He was secretary of the CPI(M) Mumbai district committee from 1994 to 2015 and played a major role in sustaining and developing the Party in Mumbai.

M C Josephine: A member of the Central Committee of the Party since 2002, and a former chairperson of the Kerala Women’s Commission. She died on April 10, 2022 due to a heart attack. She was 74 years old. She was attending the CPI(M) Party Congress in Kannur. 

She joined the CPI (M) in 1978. In 1984, she became a member of the CPI (M) Ernakulam district committee. In 1987 she was elected to the state committee. She held the post of the chairperson of the Kerala State Women’s Development Corporation Limited and also of the Greater Cochin Development Authority. She was elected councilor of the Angamaly Municipality for 13 years. She became an activist since her childhood days. She was a strong opponent of communal forces and challenged their regressive norms. She was attracted to the communist movement as a student in 1978. 

Mallu Swarajyam: Mallu Swarajyam, veteran leader of the Party and legendary fighter of the Telangana people’s armed struggle. She was a special invitee to the Central Committee. She died on March 19, 2022. She was 91.

Mallu Swarajyam participated in the Telangana armed struggle from 1946 to 1951. She was elected twice to the legislative assembly of the united Andhra Pradesh.

Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi: A veteran communist and former member of the Central Committee of the Party. He was aged 96 and died on January 11, 2021, after a brief illness.

Ganeshda, joined the struggle for India’s freedom as a student aged 17. In the nearly eight decades of an eventful public life, he rose from the ranks of an ordinary member of the undivided Communist Party, which he joined in 1942, to become the State Secretary of the CPI(M) and a member of its Central Committee for several years, later on. In the course of his political life he was jailed for six years during the struggle for independence and later on in independent India. He was elected as MLA on two occasions and as an MLC for one term.

Vijaykant Thakur:  A former member of the Central Committee of the Party and a veteran of the communist movement in Bihar. He died on August 12, 2018 at the age of 86.

He was the Secretary of the Bihar State Committee of the Party from 2005 to 2015. A militant leader, he led various struggles of the poor and landless peasants, he was General Secretary of the Bihar unit of the All India Kisan Sabha for a long time and also a member of the All India Kisan Council. 

Mohar Singh: former member of the Central Committee and former Secretary of Himachal Pradesh State Committee of the Party.  He died on January 11, 2019 at the age of 68.

He was Secretary of the Himachal Pradesh State Committee from 1991 to 2004.  He was elected to the Central Committee at the 16^th Congress and continued till its 18^th Congress in 2005. He played a key role in expanding the Party in the state.

Bajuban Riyan:  former member of the Central Committee and a veteran leader of the Party in Tripura. He died on February 21, 2020. He was aged 80.

He was a minister in the Left Front government in Tripura for two terms. He represented the Tripura East (ST) Lok Sabha constituency for seven terms. He was the President of the Tripura Rajya Upajati Ganamukti Parishad for a long time and was also the first convenor of the Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch.

S.P. Kashyap: veteran leader of the Party in Uttar Pradesh and former member of the Central Committee. He died due to Covid complications on April 23, 2021.

He was a member of the state secretariat of the Party in UP and had been the state secretary for several years.

Jakka Venkaiah: veteran leader of the Party in Andhra Pradesh and a former member of the Central Committee. He died on May 30, 2018. He was 88 years old.

He played a key role in building the Communist Party in Nellore district. He also served as an MLA for two terms.

Members & Former Members of State Committees

The 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) pays homage to the memory of the following members and former members of the state committees of the Party:

Andaman & Nicobar: Tapan Kumar Bepari.

Andhra Pradesh: Sunnam Rajaiah, Telakapalli Narasimhaiah, T. Shadrak, Reddy Sriram Murthi, Padmini Kotaiah and G J Rao

Assam: Durge Deka, Fazlur Rahman, Dr. Mahodar Pathak, Dipak Bhattacharya and Binoy Banikya.

Bihar: Krishna Kant Singh, Prem Pradeep, Balram Singh Yadav, Mangal Prasad Singh, Dange Prasad Singh and Arvind Kumar.

Chattisgarh: Ajit Lal,  Ashok Sinha, S Kumar

Goa: Kamlakant Gadekar and P.M. Naik.

Gujarat: Singhjibhai Katara and Pirbhai Malek.

Haryana: R.C. Jagga, Santokh Singh, Anand Jawahara, Yad Ram, Harish Bagi, Dharmbir Kungar and Avtar Singh.

Jammu & Kashmir: Abdul Hameed Wani, Sham Prasad Kesar.

Jharkhand: Rajendra Singh Munda, Ajit Biswas, SK Baksi, Ramnika Gupta, Narendra Mishra, ML Sonar, TN Singh, Jyotin Soren.

Karnataka: B Madhava, R Srinivas, Maruthi Manpade.

Kerala: B Raghavan, M Kelappan, V.R Baskaran and P.A Muhammed.

Madhya Pradesh: Nabinoor Ansari, Ramprasad Pathak, S C Shrivastva, Subir Talukdar, Gourishankar Sharma.

Maharashtra: Dr Vithal More, Uddhav Bhawalkar, Allabaksh Patel, Ratan Budhar and Barkya Mangat.

Manipur: Meitram Shamu, Thondam Komol, Dr. Yumnam Mahendra Singh & Langpoklakpam Kunjo.

Odisha: Banamali Dhupal, Purna Chandra Samantray, Jaganath Pati, Revati Ballhav Mohapatro, Kalu Charan Panda and Bansidhar Das

Punjab: Raghunath Singh, Bant Singh Namol, Gurmit Singh Dhadda, Gurdial Singh Dher.

Rajasthan: B L Bapna

Tamilnadu: G Veeraiyan, V Sundaram, Abdul Wahab, K Vaidyanathan, K Thangavel, D Laxmanan, K C Karunakaran, A V Murugaiyan, Mythily Sivaraman, Jothiram, P Shanmugham, S Pancharatnam and G Mani.

Telangana: Sunnam Rajiah, Vanaganti Eeswar, Kunja Bojji and Masku Narsimha.

Tripura: Narayan Rupini, Babul Bhadra, Milan Dey Sarkar, Subodh Das, Madan Das, Jyotish Saha, Mangaleswari Debbarma, Pijush Nag, Madhu Sengupta, Banabihari Saha, Rashiram Debbarma, Surendra Roy, Sudarshan Das and Narayan Rupini.

Uttar Pradesh: Dinanath Singh Yadav, Sridhar Sharma and Jiyalal.

Uttarakhand: Birendra Bhandari, Bachiram Kauswal and Satyparkash.

West Bengal: Avik Dutta, Mriganka Bhattacharya, Sudharshan Roy Chowdhury, Manasa Hansda, Mrinal Roy, Rajdeo Goala, Ajoy Mukherjee, Sk. Isrial, Ajay Mukherjee and Nirmal Jana.

Party Centre: Ranjana Nirula and Pramila Pandhe.

Amit Sengupta: a leading figure in the people’s science and public health movements.

The 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) pays respectful tributes to the memory of these leaders who have departed since the 22^nd Congress of the Party.

National

The 23^rd Congress pays homage to:

Gurudas Dasgupta: veteran leader of the Communist Party of India and prominent trade union leader, Gurudas Dasgupta.

Aijaz Ahmed: well-known Marxist theoretician and intellectual,

Samir Amin: renowned Marxist thinker.

Ashok Mitra: Prominent economist and former minister in the West Bengal Left Front government.

Somnath Chatterjee: former Speaker, eminent parliamentarian.

K R Gouri Amma: former minister and politician.

M Karunanidhi: veteran of the Dravidian movement, DMK President, former Chief Minister.

A K Roy: veteran leader of the working class movement.

Namvar Singh, former president of the All India Progressive Writers Association.

Prof. D N Jha, renowned Marxist historian.

Mushirul Hasan: noted historian.

Girish Karnad, progressive writer, director, theatre personality and actor.

Soumitra Chottopadhyaya, renowned actor, playwright, poet and life-long associate of the Left movement.

Krishna Sobti, renowned Hindi fiction writer.

S. P Balasubramaniam: noted singer and musician.

KPAC Lalitha, renowned theatre and film actress.

International

The 23^rd Congress pays tributes to the memory of:

Li Peng: Former President of People’s Republic of China.

Tran Dai Quang: President of Vietnam.

Do Muoi: former General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam and former Prime Minister of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

Dimitris Christofias: former General Secretary of the AKEL and former President of Cyprus.

Sean Garland: veteran leader of the Workers Party, Ireland.

Martyrs

The 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) dips its Red Banner in salute to the martyrs who valiantly fought and made the ultimate sacrifice in the cause of the party, the people and the democratic movement in the country, in the period since the 22^nd Congress.  

The 23rd Congress salutes:

Jagdish Chandra Basu who was gunned down by goondas owing allegiance to the feudal elements in Bihar.

Kannipoyil Babu, Abbobacker Siddique, Abhimanyu, P U Sanoop, R Manilal, P.B.Sandeep and Haridas, who were killed by RSS goondas; S Abhimanyu who was killed by SDPI goons; Siyad, Midhilaj, Haq Muhammed & Dheeraj Rajendran who were killed by Congress hoodlums and Abdul Rahiman who was murdered by Muslim League hooligans in Kerala.

Tapas Sutradhar, Anima Das, Mukunda Muhuri, Madan Nama, Nakul Saha, Tufan Debbarma, Dipen Debnath, Shibu Chowdhury, Islam Miah, Biswajit Deb, Sushital Deb, Mangaldhan Chakma, Gulma Mohan Tripura, Girendra Tripura, Narayan Chandran Das, Manindra Debnath, Pradib Nama, Benu Biswas – all comrades who were killed by the BJP hoodlums in Tripura; Ranabahadur Debbarma & Pradip Debbarma who were killed by IPFT goons in Tripura.

Maidul Islam Middya by the Police; Somen Kundu by criminals associated with the TMC; Haijul Mandal, Debu Das, Usha Das, Taimur Gayen, Apu Manna, Jogeswar Ghosh, Bishnu Tudu, Mahibul Sekh, Ramjan Miah, Mozaffar Ahmed, Lutful Haque, Nityagopal Bala, Mir Hekarat Ali, Ajoy Mandal, Khet Majur, Sk Kamrul, Tanmoy Santra, Raju Haldar, Najimul Karim, Nijamuddin Mandal, Surjyakanta Hembram, Babulal Biswas, Saifur Rahaman, Piar Ali Mollah, Deb Kumar Bhuia, Guruchand Roy, Rafique Alam, Kasmat Sk, Kader Mandal, Kakoli Khetrapal, Badal Sekh and Saumen Kundu – all of whom were killed by Trinamul Congress gangsters in West Bengal.

Jesuit priest and activist Stan Swamy, from Jharkhand, who died in custody.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) will always cherish the memory of these martyrs. It pledges to continue the fight to fulfill their unfinished tasks.