The
Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses its
deep grief at the passing away of Comrade R Umanath, veteran leader of
the Party at Tiruchirapalli. He was aged 92 years.
R
Umanath was a member of the Central Committee of the Party from 1978 to
2012. He was elected a member of the Polit Bureau in 1991 and served in
that capacity till 2008. He served as a member of the Tamilnadu State
Committee and Secretariat of the Party for several decades.
He
began his political activity as a young student by participating in the
freedom struggle. He joined the Communist Party in 1939 while studying
at the Annamali University in Tamilnadu. He left his studies to become a
wholetimer of the Party.
Umanath became a
talented organizer of the trade unions and played an important role in
building the trade union movement in different parts of Tamilnadu. He
was one of the founders of the CITU and was the first General Secretary
of Tamilnadu CITU. He served as the General Secretary and later as the
President of the State CITU for long years. He served as the national
Vice President of the CITU till 2010.
Comrade
Umanath served as a member of the Lok Sabha in 1962 and 1967. Later he
was elected to the state legislature for two terms. He was a powerful
speaker in Tamil and English and made a mark in the parliamentary
forums.
The Communist Party was repressed by the
British rulers in the years before independence. Com. Umanath was
convicted along with other Communist leaders in the Madras Conspiracy
case and jailed for two and a half years. He spent altogether nine and
half years in jail both before and after independence. He also spent
seven years underground, the last period being during the Emergency in
1975-77.
Com. Umanath was a staunch
Marxist-Leninist. He set an example of the Communist style of work among
the working class. As a member of the Polit Bureau and the Central
Committee, Umanath made a notable contribution to the evolution of the
Party’s ideological and political line.
Married to Papa Umanath, they both were an inspiring example of dedicated work and simple style of living.
The
Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) pays homage to the memory of this
outstanding communist leader. It conveys its heartfelt condolences to
his daughters U Vasuki and Nirmala Ravi.
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