Other States - Orissa

Biju’s association with Harkishan remembered

BERHAMPUR: Veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader, Harkishan Singh Surjeet’s relationship with the State especially his association with Biju Patnaik was remembered at an all-party condolence meeting held in the city on Tuesday evening.

This condolence meeting was organised by the Ganjam district committee of the CPI (M), which was attended by leaders of all major political parties and trade unions in the city. The district secretary of the CPI (M), Kalu Panda, chaired this meeting. “He was a leader who had his impact not just to his own party men, but also on leaders and cadres of other parties,” opined the speakers.

His impact on the State politics was also a point of discussion. According to the State secretariat member of the CPI (M), Ali Kishore Patnaik, Comrade Surjeet had close association with great Oriya leader, Biju Patnaik. “Comrade Surjeet could persuade Biju Babu not to join the communal BJP after the fall of Janata Party government at the centre,” he said. Impact of Surjeet kept Biju Patnaik away from the BJP and he did not let the BJP grow in the State till his death.

It may be noted that Biju Babu had even tried to destroy the BJP organisation in the State by getting leaders like Biswabhusan Harichandan to defect out of the BJP, he said.

All political leaders present at the meeting praised the conviction with which Comrade Surjeet had dedicated his life to the Communist movement in the country since 1934, when he had become member of the Communist party that was illegal in British India.

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