THE CPI(M) expresses its sorrow at the passing away of Comrade SP Kashyap due to Covid complications. He was a member of the state secretariat of the CPI(M), Uttar Pradesh and had earlier been the state secretary of the Party for several years. He was also a former member of the Central Committee of the CPI(M). Comrade Kashyap became a whole-timer of the party after his retirement from teaching.Comrade Kashyap was greatly respected as a Marxist intellectual and he was much sought after by all those who organised Hindi Party classes in different states and at the center.

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on April 22, 2021:WE are deeply sorry to announce the passing away this morning (April 22) of Ashish Yechury, son of Sitaram Yechury and Indrani Mazumdar.  He died of Covid related complications. He was 35 years old.The Polit Bureau conveys its deepest condolences to Sitaram and Indrani, his wife Swati, his sister Akhila and all other members of the bereaved family.

PROFESSOR Dwijendra Narayan Jha (DN Jha or DNJ in short), who fought shibboleths and superstitions all his life, was busy doing so when he took a break, had lunch, went for his siesta and breathed his last on February 4, 2021. On that count, the loss to the cause he stood for and served – by providing well-honed intellectual instruments for changing the world for the better – is indeed real and irreparable. The departure of anyone who has given all that he/she had to is indeed very sad, but the bereavement causes little loss to the cause as such.

COMRADE Raghunath Singh was born in 1954 at village Binewal in Hoshiarpur district of Punjab. This is a semi-hilly area of Punjab. His father Comrade Rulia Ram Adhial was a well-known communist leader and a famous freedom fighter. He was brought up in a committed communist family. Comrade Rulia Ram Adhial came into contact with the underground communist leader, Comrade Swami Gauri Shankar in the year 1932 and later became a member of the Communist Party. Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet and other state leaders were regular visitors to their house.

SEPTEMBER was a cruel month for the CPI(M) in Maharashtra. One of the most respected Party leaders in the state, Dr Vithal More, a former member of the state secretariat, passed away on September 18. He was 71. Less than a fortnight earlier, a fighting Party and trade union leader, Uddhav Bhawalkar, also a former member of the state secretariat, passed away on September 5. He was 68. Both were victims of Covid.