AS one who has been closely associated with Comrade Shaily for more than eleven years, it is very difficult for me to express fully my impressions and feelings regarding him.

I first met Shaily during a state committee meeting of the party held in Delhi in 1989, in the presence of Comrade B T Ranadive, who was at that time guiding the Madhya Pradesh Party on behalf of the Polit Bureau. I was then only a member of the Central Secretariat. With my long experience, I had made a note in my mind even then that this comrade was a cadre with great potentialities.

We used to meet very often --- almost every fortnight --- in connection with the secretariat and state committee meetings, party classes, discussions and later on during the Central Committee meetings. When the Chhattisgarh state committee was recently formed, Shaily was with me on the occasion. We attended the state committee meetings there together. With this close and long association, I have very many impressions which cannot all be narrated here. I can only say that I had a firm impression that he was one of the most valuable cadres of the communist movement in the whole of the Hind-speaking belt.

Shaily's greatest strength was his enormous capacity for work and the thoroughness with which he attended to his work. His grasp of Marxist theory, of the party's political line and his great ability to link up these with practical-organisational task was really most impressive. He made thorough preparations for all meetings of the Central Committee, state committee or district committees, etc. He used to work out every minute detail of organisational work. As a matter of fact, just an hour before his tragic end, he had drafted the Madhya Pradesh state committee's report to the Central Committee, the notes for the state committee meeting and plans for campaigns. He left the office only after completing them.

His fraternal and comradely relations with all cadres and leaders enabled him to build up a very effective team of leaders in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. As is well-known, this is the test of any comrade’s organisational work.

Shaily was popular in all the Hindi-speaking states. As a powerful speaker, his speeches and his classes on Marxist theory have contributed much to the spread of ideology of scientific socialism in this region.

Shaily's nature was such that he wanted to do everything perfectly. It is most unfortunate that this very idealism and perfectionism in his character was the source of his feeling that he was not able to carry on his work successfully. This mental trait prevented him from fully realising the real contribution that he had made to the communist cause even by the age of 44. It is tragic that this trait led to his unfortunate end.

But we will always remember and honour Shaily's contribution and his example should strengthen the resolve to continue his work while building a strong Communist Party and powerful mass movements in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.