Veteran Communist leader Baldev Bakshi (90) passed away at the PGI here on Sunday after a brief illness.
He is survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.
One of the founder leaders of the Communist movement in joint Punjab after Independence, Bakshi was arrested many times for participating in the movements of peasants and agriculture tenants (mujahras) in Punjab and Haryana.
Bakshi was kept in custody in Lahore's Shahi Qila for two months in the early 1940s. After Partition, he moved to Sirsa in Haryana (then in undivided Punjab) from Sekhupura town of Pakistan. He started focusing on building the Communist movement and organisational structure of the Communist Party of India (CPI).
Later, he became deputy secretary of the Haryana unit of the CPI and remained an active member of the party till the end.