A B Bardhan, veteran Communist leader, is dead

'He was a tall leader who always fought for the people's cause.'

Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan, the Communist Party of India leader who steered the CPI during the turbulent period of coalition politics in the 1990s, passed into the ages on Saturday night after a prolonged illness.

Comrade Bardhan, 92, is survived by his son Ashok and daughter Alka. His wife, a professor at Nagpur University, died in 1986. Comrade Bardhan was admitted to the G B Pant hospital in New Delhi on December 7 after he suffered a paralytic stroke.

Comrade Bardhan "died at 8:20 pm. He had a brain stroke due to blockage in the middle cerebral artery. He was in a coma," Dr Vinod Puri, director and professor of neurology at the G B Pant Hospital, said.

Earlier in the day, CPI leader D Raja said Comrade Bardhan's condition had "worsened" with his blood pressure levels falling.

Comrade Bardhan, who lived in the CPI headquarters in the national capital, has been a leading figure of the trade union movement and Left politics in Maharashtra. He entered electoral politics in 1957 when he won a seat in the Maharashtra assembly as an Independent candidate.

He later rose to become CPI general secretary and then president of the All India Trade Union Congress, the oldest trade union in India. He moved to Delhi politics in the 1990s and became the CPI's deputy general secretary, succeeding Indrajit Gupta as general secretary in 1996.

CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said Comrade Bardhan's wisdom, experience and guidance would be missed.

'Red salute, Comrade Bardhan. We miss your wisdom, experience & guidance,' Yechury tweeted.

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi described Comrade Bardhan's death as a 'huge loss to Indian politics.'

Janata Dal-United President Sharad Yadav said the CPI stalwart epitomised the continuous stuggle for the cause of the masses.

'He was a tall leader who always fought for the people's cause,' Yadav said, recalling his long association with Comrade Bardhan, he said he had first heard the Communist leader at a public meeting when he was only 12 years old.