People's Democracy

Rich Tributes Paid To Comrade Koratala Satyanarayana

M Venugopala Rao

RICH tributes were paid to veteran leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Comrade Koratala Satyanarayana, who passed away on July 1, 2006. Large number of people from a wide spectrum of the society, condoled his death and recollected his struggles in the cause of the toiling masses, the immense contribution he made in building the Communist movement, strengthening the Party’s organisation, guiding it and encouraging and moulding cadres during his eventful  political life of more than six decades.

Comrade Koratala’s body was brought to M B Bhavan, office of the state committee of the Party, from NIMS hospital, to enable the public to pay their homage to the departed leader. A continuous stream of leaders and cadres of the Party and of mass organisations coming from all over the state, leaders of other political parties, prominent people from different fields, sympathisers and admirers visited M B Bhavan from early in the morning and paid their homage to Comrade Koratala. Polit Bureau members of the CPI(M), Sitaram Yechury and R Umanath, central committee member Md Amin representing the West Bengal state committee of the Party, B V Raghavulu, state committee secretary and Polit Bureau member, president of Telugu  Desam Party N Chandrababu Naidu, president of the Pradesh Congress committee K Kesava Rao, union minister and leader of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi A Narendra, CPI state secretary K Narayana, BJP state president N Indrasena Reddy, leader of CPI(ML) Kotaiah, SUCI state secretary Sridhar, representative of the CPI(ML) Janasakthi, Ch Srinivasa Rao, secretary of ML Committee K Venkateswarlu, leader of ML(Liberation)  Kumar, and advisor to the state government, K V P Ramachandra Rao, were among those who paid homage to Comrade Koratala.

CPI(M) central secretariat member V Srinivasa Rao, central committee members Mallu Swarajyam, P Madhu, Tammineni Veerabhadram, Paturu Ramayya and Jakka Venkaiah, state secretariat members Y Venkateswara Rao and  Alluri Satyanarayana, A P Rythu Sangham secretary S Malla Reddy, A P Agricultural Workers’ Union general secretary B Venkat,  AIDWA state president Jyothi, vice president S Punyavathi and secretary Swarupa Rani, CITU state president R Sudha Bhaskar and general secretary S Veeraiah, veteran leader of the CPI(M), Parsa Satyanarayana, general manager of Prajasakti V Krishnaiah, editor S Vinay Kumar, managing editor M V S Sarma, leader of the  CPI(M) legislature party, N Narasimhaiah, MLAs M A Gafoor and J Rangareddy, former Union minister P Upendra,  TDP leaders T Devender Goud and M Venkateswara Rao, CPI leaders B Dharma Bhiksham, Y V Krishna Rao and  T Lakshminarayana and secretaries of district committees of the CPI(M) paid homage to Comrade Koratala.  Jagadamba, wife of Comrade Makineni Basavapunnaiah, former judge of A P High Court P A Chaudhary, retired IAS officers J Rambabu, T Gopal Rao and K Madhava Rao, MRPS president Manda Krishna Madiga, eminent educationist Chukka Ramaiah, member of Parliament from Tenali Balasauri, MLAs P Janardhan Reddy and D Mallikharjuna Rao were among those who paid homage to Comrade Koratala.

Paying homage to Comrade Koratala, Sitaram Yechury said the death of Comrade Koratala was a loss not just to the CPI(M) but it also created a void in the national politics which could not be filled easily.  Comrade Koratala had contacts with the first generation of the Communist movement. By his very nature, he played a crucial role at every stage. Though a veteran, he had good relations with the youth of the present-day generation also. He played a big role in encouraging them and bringing them into the position of leadership.   Recollecting his 30-year old relationship with Comrade Koratala, Sitaram Yechury said he had never seen anger in the face of Comrade Koratala, except concern and restlessness. Comrade Koratala used to enquire immediately as and when any political development in the country or the state had taken place on the course of action the Party was going to take, Sitaram said.  Till the end of his death, Comrade Koratala continued that approach. He was very anxious to expand the Communist movement.  Till the last day, Comrade Koratala examined the trend of elections to the local bodies in the state and told the leaders of the Party that we would win up to 42 seats. He imbibed the Marxist methodology of coming to a conclusion by studying the concrete conditions, Sitaram explained. Expressing condolence on behalf of the Polit Bureau, Sitaram Yechury asserted that rededicating ourselves and taking his ideals forward is the real homage we can pay to Comrade Koratala.

Terming the death of Comrade Koratala most painful, Umanath said his role in building the organisation of the Party was excellent.  Till the end of his life, Comrade Koratala sacrificed a lot. His death was an irreparable loss to the Party, Umanath said and pledged to carry forward the great responsibility Comrade Koratala had left. Recollecting that he had worked with Comrade Koratala for a long time in the central committee of the Party, Md Amin said completing the task left by Comrade Koratala should be the aim of the present generation.   Condoling the death of Comrade Koratala, Raghavulu read out the condolence messages received from the general secretary of the CPI(M), Prakash Karat, Polit Bureau members Jyoti Basu, Harkishen Singh Surjeet, president and general secretary of the CITU M K Pandhe and Chittabrata Mazumdar, secretary of the Kerala state committee of the Party, Pinarayi Vijayan, secretary of the Tamil Nadu state committee of the Party, Varadarajan, and veteran leader of the Party P Ramachandran.  Whenever he met and talked to Comrade Koratala, he used to feel like talking to a member of the family, CPI state secretary K Narayana said.  Giving guidance and taking the Communist movement forward was the forte of Comrade Koratala, he said.   

The last journey of Comrade Koratala started at 11 a m on July 3 from M B Bhavan amidst resounding slogans of ‘Comrade Koratala amar rahen’, ‘Lal Salam Comrade Koratala’, and ‘We will carry forward the flag you held high’.  Draped in Red flag, Comrade Koratala’s body was taken in procession in an open vehicle decorated with Red flags, accompanied by senior leaders, and followed by thousands of people coming from all over the state. With artists of Praja Natya Mandali singing songs in memory of Comrade Koratala,  the procession reached Bansilalpet. All through the procession it was raining and people continued to join the procession.  At Bansilalpet, several leaders paid homage to Comrade Koratala.   Later, Comrade Koratala’s body was consigned to flames at the electric crematorium, amidst resounding slogans paying homage to him.   

Earlier, on hearing the news of his death on the July 1, a stream of leaders and cadres of political parties, of mass organisations, sympathisers, prominent people from different fields and others visited his home at the old MLA quarters in a grief-striken atmosphere and paid homage to the departed leader, placing wreaths and flowers on his body. Apart from the leaders and cadres of the CPI(M), chief minister Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, president of the Telugu Desam Party, N Chandrababu Naidu, and its polit bureau member T Devender Goud, CPI leaders Dasari Nagabhushana Rao, Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, K Narayana, Aziz Pasha, T Lakshminarayana and Chada Venkat Reddy, union minister T Subbarami Reddy, state minister K Rosaiah, leader of the  CPI(ML) New Democracy, M Narayanaswamy, MCPI leader Bhimireddy Narasimha Reddy, and BJP leaders B Dattatreya and G Kishan Reddy were among those who paid homage to Comrade Koratala. Later his body was shifted to NIMS for preservation till June 3.