Veteran CPI leader Bhogendra Jha dead

Freedom fighter and veteran communist leader Bhogendra Jha died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi after a brief illness.

Freedom fighter and veteran communist leader Bhogendra Jha died at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi after a brief illness.

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Eighty-three-year-old Jha, who was hospitalised a week ago and died last evening, is survived by three sons, the CPI said on Wednesday.

His body was today kept at the CPI headquarters Ajoy Bhavan where several leaders, including CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan, Union Ministers Ram Vilas Paswan and M A A Faatmi and Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), paid floral tributes to the departed leader.

The body was in the evening flown to Patna and would later be taken to Barha in Madhubani, where he was born, for cremation.

Known for his glorious role in the peasants struggle for land reforms, Jha had joined the freedom struggle at the age of 14 and was jailed several times by the British government.

After joining the Communist Party in 1940, he played a key role in organising the peasantry and marginalised sections in Bihar.

Jha, who rose to become the President of the All India Kisan Sabha, was elected five times to Parliament from Madhubani.

He was also a prolific writer who made immense contribution in the field of philosophy and literature, a CPI statement said.