For some days his health started improving, but on 6 May his oxygen level suddenly fell and he had to be put on a ventilator. He was suffering from Covid and admitted in hospital since 13 April. Prof Arvind Kumar Singh (69 years) passed away at 4 pm on at a private hospital in Patna. His unparalleled role in inspiring students and youth with revolutionary ideology and preparing political activists can never be forgotten. He was for a long time Editor of the party publication Samkaleen Lokyudh and also in-charge of the party’s education department.

He was a member of the party Politburo and Chairman of the Central Control Commission. He was Bihar State Secretary for a long time in the 90s. He had been the Secretary of Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh and the Chhattisgarh in-charge. He played an important role in establishing the party not only in Bihar but in other parts of the country. He played an important role in the revolutionary peasants’ movement in the 80s in what was then Central Bihar. Inspired by the Naxalbari movement in the 70s and the poor-dalit political-social movement that began in rural Bihar, Ramjatan Sharma left his government job and became part of this movement. His body was kept at the party legislative office for final tributes. On receiving the news of his death, the party flag was flown at half-mast on all party offices. The baton is now in the hands of all those young comrades for whom Comrade Ramjatan Sharma was a mentor par excellence.

For the five decades he worked as a full-time party organiser, he steered the organisation through so many ups and downs, never losing hope and always inspiring comrades by setting examples with his tireless efforts and never-say-die spirit. Tests began, but crucial time had already been lost and he could not be saved.Ĭomrade Ramjatan Sharma was one of those typical 1970s veterans who spent their entire life building the party, spreading Marxist ideas in rural Bihar and transforming young members into resolute Party activists and organisers.

Doctors shifted him to Patna and ECG was done only at midnight to realise that he had suffered a major cardiac attack in the morning. When he began feeling ill, he was brought to the District hospital where not even an ECG was done. Comrade Sharma had been based in the Jahanabad office of the party. His death was a direct consequence of the negligence and lack of basic healthcare in Bihar district hospitals. Frontline leader of the CPIML movement, former member of the Polit Bureau of CPI(ML), former Bihar State Secretary and popular Marxist teacher Comrade Ramjatan Sharma passed away at the Indira Gandhi Heart Institute in Patna on 6 June 2021 after a heart attack.

Haunted by Fire by Mythily Sivaraman