CONDOLING the passing away of Comrade Subodh Mehta, in a condolence message sent to the CPI(M) Gujarat state committee on September 1, Sitaram Yechury, general secretary, has said that Comrade Subodh Mehta has been a lifelong fighter for the cause of the exploited sections of our people and dedicated his energy for advancing the struggle for the establishing an exploitation free socialist society in India.

In his death, the Party has lost a steadfast fighter who remained uncompromisingly with the communist revolutionary cause and adherence.

Yechury said that he has been closely associated with the Mehta family – Niruben, Arun and Eva – and the movement in Bhavnagar and was in close contact with Com Subodh Mehta since the middle of 1980s when the Party Centre deputed him to assist the Party in Gujarat.

Comrade Subodh Mehta, former member of the Central Committee died on September 1, 2017 at Bhavnagar, Gujarat, after a brief illness. Born on November 21, 1928, he began his political journey plunging into the student movement against fee hike in Rajkot district of Gujarat. Later on, he worked amongst the railway workers in Bhavnagar. He joined the then undivided Communist Party in 1952.

Subodh Mehta joined the CPI(M) in the post-Emergency period in 1980. He was elected as the state secretary of the Party in 1992 and continued in that responsibility till 2005. He discharged various responsibilities on the trade union front. He was on the working committee of the CITU for long. He was state president of the CITU at the time of his death.

During the course of his long political life Comrade Subodh Mehta was imprisoned for a total two years, including six months during the India-China conflict, and had remained underground during the Emergency. His eyes were donated. His body was also donated through the Red Cross to the local medical college. Muralidharan, Central Committee invitee paid homage to Comrade Subodh Mehta on behalf of the Party Centre on September 2, at the Party office in Bhavnagar. A large number of people from various walks of life turned up to pay homage to him. Sitaram Yechury would be participating in the condolence meeting being held at Ahmedabad on September 8.