People's Democracy

Comrade C Nanjundappa

ONE of the senior CPI(M) leaders in Karnataka, Comrade C Nanjundappa passed away on May 26, in Mangalore party office after prolonged illness. He was 62.

Attracted to Marxism, Comrade C Nanjundappa, popularly called C N, resigned from his job in the telecom department and joined the party in 1965. He became a wholetimer in 1968.

CN, who devoted his life to party work, was born at Muthur village in Kolar district. In 1959, he gave away his two houses, mango grove and 1.5 acres of land to the tenants free of cost.

CN was a member of the CPI(M)’s state secretariat till 1997 and a state committee member till 2002. The 17th state conference of the party, held in January 2002, relieved him from the responsibility at his request, due to his failing health.

CN played an important role in building the trade union movement in the state. He worked as CITU state secretary and later as its vice president and a central working committee member. He was president of the state Plantation Workers Union and also its all-India vice president.

CN upheld the ideology of Marxism-Leninism and opposed revisionism. He ran a Marxist school at Mangalore to educate workers in Marxism and authored many articles and booklets on Marxism-Leninism or the trade union movement. He was also a member of the editorial board of Aikyaranga, the CPI(M)’s Kannada weekly, and founder editor of CITU Sandesha. Treating the party as his family, he chose to remain unmarried. His demise is a great loss to the working class and the party.

His funeral was held in Mangalore on May 26, which CPI(M) and CITU leaders attended along with others.