That was the political life of Harkishan Singh Surjeet that began with his staunch fight against British colonial rule, which culminated with his leading role in the CPI(M) for an eventful four decades.
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) records withprofound grief the passing away of Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet, veteranleader of the CPI(M), an outstanding figure of the Communist movement of thecountry and prominent national politician. He died after a prolonged illness onAugust 1, 2008. He was 93 years old.
The seven and a half decades-long political life of Harkishan Singh Surjeetbegan with his staunch fight against British colonial rule. He played apioneering role in developing the peasant movement and the Communist Party inPunjab before emerging as a national leader of the Communist Party of India andthe All India Kisan Sabha. It culminated with his leading role in the CPI(M) foran eventful four decades.
Surjeet began his revolutionary career influenced by the martyrdom of BhagatSingh. He hoisted the tricolour in March 1932 at the district court inHoshiarpur at the age of 16. He was arrested and sent to a reformatory schoolfor juvenile offenders. He came in touch with the early Communist pioneers inPunjab after his release. He joined the Communist Party in 1934 and became amember of the Congress Socialist Party in 1935. He was elected as the secretaryof the Punjab State Kisan Sabha in 1938. The same year, he was externed fromPunjab and went to Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh where he started a monthly paper,`Chingari'. He went underground after the outbreak of the second world war andwas arrested in 1940. He was imprisoned in the notorious Lahore Red Fort wherehe was kept for three months in solitary confinement in terrible conditions.Later he was shifted to Deoli detention camp where he remained till 1944. Duringthe partition, he tirelessly worked for communal harmony in violence-tornPunjab.
In common with the pioneering Communist leaders, Surjeet displayed amply thecapacity to sacrifice and undergo difficulties. He spent ten years in jail, ofwhich eight were in the pre-independence period; he also spent eight yearsunderground.
Surjeet was elected to the Central Committee and Polit Bureau of theCommunist Party of India at the Third Congress of the Party in January 1954. Hecontinued in the leadership of the CPI till the split in 1964. Surjeet was oneof the leaders who fought against revisionism and constituted the core of theleadership who went on to form the CPI(M). His deep experience in developing thepeasant movement and building the Party led him to shun Left sectarian positionswhenever such deviations arose in the Communist movement.
He had a life-long association with the peasant movement. He led theanti-betterment levy struggle of the farmers in Punjab in 1959. He served as thePresident and General Secretary of the All India Kisan Sabha for a long period.
Surjeet was elected to the Central Committee and Polit Bureau of the CPI(M)at the Seventh Congress in 1964 and he continued in these positions till therecently-held Nineteenth Congress of the Party. In these four decades, HarkishanSingh Surjeet made a key contribution to the Party's programmatic and tacticalpolicies. He was a master tactician who could translate the Party's politicalline into practice, implementing it with great skill and innovation. His was alife-long fight against communalism. He was one of the first leaders whorecognized the threat posed by the rise of the communal forces to the secularprinciple of the Indian State. He played a crucial role in 1989, 1996 and 2004in creating the political formations and the setting up of governments whichexcluded the communal forces.
Surjeet played a remarkable role in the defence of national unity and informulating policies to counter the threat from the divisive forces. His firmstance and leadership in fighting against Khalistani terrorism in Punjab and thesacrifice made by over 200 Communists in fighting extremism constitutes aglorious chapter. From the late fifties, Surjeet was involved in tackling theproblems of Jammu & Kashmir. He played a role in the evolution of the AssamAccord in the eighties. Imbued with deep anti-imperialism and the values of thenationalist movement, Surjeet looked at all issues of national unity from ademocratic and secular standpoint.
In the CPI(M), Surjeet headed the international department for three decades.He developed relations with all the communist and progressive parties around theworld. Under his leadership, the CPI(M) expressed firm solidarity withanti-imperialist struggles and national liberation movements. He made a notablecontribution to the solidarity activities during the Vietnam liberationstruggle, the Palestinian movement and the Cuba solidarity campaign.
Surjeet played an important role in making the CPI(M) the largest contingentof the Left movement in the country. Surjeet absorbed Marxism-Leninism by sheerdent of self-study and learning from experience. He always stressed thefundamental importance of critically examining the Party's ideological andpolitical positions on the basis of Marxism. After the collapse of the SovietUnion in the nineteen nineties, he guided the Party in arriving at correctpositions learning from the experience of the past.
He authored the books Land Reforms in India, Happenings in Punjab and theOutline History of the Communist Party. He wrote innumerable pamphlets oncurrent political issues.
As General Secretary of the CPI(M), he became the most authoritativespokesman for the Left and democratic forces in the country. He workedtirelessly for the defence of democratic and secular values and to see thatIndia maintained its non-aligned and independent foreign policy. His views weresought and his advice heard with respect in political circles.
In his death, the Party has lost an outstanding leader and the country anauthoritative representative of the Left and secular tradition.
The entire Party will cherish and uphold the ideology and principles forwhich Harkishan Singh Surjeet dedicated his life. The Polit Bureau paysrespectful homage to this outstanding Communist and beloved leader. It conveysits heartfelt condolences to his wife Pritam Kaur, sons, daughter, grandchildrenand other family members.