Headlines
Communist leader G. Pansare dead, lakhs bid tearful adieu
Mumbai/Kolhapur, Feb 21
Rationalist Govind
Pansare, a senior CPI leader and leading light of the anti-toll tax
movement, who was shot at in Kolhapur Feb 16, died in Mumbai. He was 82.
The
Communist Party of India leader was airlifted to Mumbai's Breach Candy
Hospital Friday evening for further treatment, but succumbed barely a
couple of hours later around 11.30 p.m.
Sir J.J. Group of
Hospitals dean T.P. Lahane, who was monitoring Pansare's condition, said
excessive bleeding in the lungs resulted in his death.
Pansare's
body was airlifted to his home town where lakhs of people paid their
last respects even as Kolhapur observed a spontaneous shutdown to
protest his killing.
Condemning the killing, Governor C.V. Rao said the assassination of a selfless social worker like Pansare was a dastardly act.
"I
have no doubt in my mind that the state government will take every step
to bring the perpetrators of the crime to justice," Rao said.
Chief
Minister Devendra Fadnavis, several of his cabinet colleagues, top
leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shiv Sena, Congress,
Nationalist Congress Party, CPI, Republican Party of India and others
visited the hospital Saturday morning and paid homage to Pansare.
Opposition
parties in the state have called for a 'Maharashtra shutdown' Sunday to
protest Pansare's killing and demanded the immediate arrest of the
culprits.
Besides the CPI and other Left parties, Congress, NCP,
RPI, Bharatiya Republican Party-Bahujan Mahasangh (BRPBM) led by Prakash
Ambedkar, a three-time MP and grandson of B.R. Ambedkar, and other
parties have declared support to the shutdown.
"Maharashtra has
lost a progressive leader. The state will always remember his
contribution for justice to the poor and depressed classes. He left a
permanent mark on the state's social-political landscape. All efforts
shall be made to nab the culprits soon," Fadnavis said.
State
Congress chief Manikrao Thakre demanded a CBI probe into the killing,
while Ambedkar sought a Special Investigation Team to probe the case
instead of the local police.
Pansare and his wife Uma were shot at while they were returning from a morning walk in their hometown.
At
least two motorcycle-riding assailants accosted them, shouted Pansare's
name and shot at the couple from close range before speeding off from
the crime scene.
Uma Pansare, who sustained serious injuries, is
undergoing treatment in a Kolhapur hospital, where her condition was
described as stable.
The modus operandi of the attack was
described by police as similar to the shooting of rationalist Narendra
Dabholkar 18 months ago in Pune.
Kolhapur Saturday resembled a
sea of red, with lakhs of people carrying red flags, wearing red shirts
or T-shirts and red caps to mourn Pansare's death and waited hours in
snaking queues for a last glimpse.
Later, his flower-bedecked
body was taken in a truck to the Panchganga crematorium where his two
daughters lit the funeral pyre without any religious rites as cries of
"Pansare Amar Rahe", "Comrade Govind Pansare, Lal Salam, Lal Salam" rent
the air.
Renowned for his advocacy for the rights of people and
workers from the lowest strata of society, Pansare was born Nov 26, 1933
in Kolhar village in Ahmednagar district.
"His family had lost
its farm to local moneylenders and since childhood, Pansare fought
against the existing social system, and later joined the CPI and
continued his fight on a larger canvas," CPI-M leader Ajit Abhyankar
told media persons.
The youngest of five children, Pansare moved
to the erstwhile princely state of Kolhapur for higher studies at
Rajaram College and later acquired a law degree.
Around the same
time, he also plunged into the Indian freedom movement and took part in
several agitations, including the struggle to liberate Goa.
He
did not shy away from criticising certain policies and practices of the
CPI due to which, he argued, the Communist movement failed as a mass
movement in the country.
A few weeks ago, Pansare had faced
protests at Shivaji University where he criticised the glorification of
Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse by certain groups.
He
also made certain references to 2008 Mumbai terror attacks martyr Hemant
Karkare, the former Anti Terrorism Squad chief who was shot dead by
Pakistani terrorists.
Close friends and party activists claimed
he had allegedly received threats for his bold utterances, but did not
take them too seriously.
During his lifetime, Pansare wrote 21 novels, most of them stark commentaries on the ills and wrong practices in Indian society.
Police in Kolhapur have formed 10 special teams to nab the killers, but so far there has been no breakthrough in the case.