Comrades bid emotional farewell to departed Naxal leader Azizul Haque
Haque is survived by a daughter and wife. He had a son who passed away in 2003 in a road accident.
Standing outside the iconic Indian Coffee House in central Kolkata's College Street, Haque's comrades, both old and young bid the stalwart leader goodbye. A poster at the gathering read 'Comrade Azizul Haque red salute'. Many of his old friends broke down as they offered flowers to the body and remembered Haque as a 'guiding light' in their political lives.
Senior Leftist leaders such as Rabin Deb, Kartik Pal, Tanmoy Bhattacharya and many others were present at the farewell.
'Even though we may have differed politically, he knew how to talk to everyone and connect with people of different ideologies, he continued the necessary debates and inspired many young minds,' CPI(ML) polit bureau member Kartik Pal told The Hindu.
Mr. Pal also highlighted that Haque and his fellow Naxalites helped bring change in Indian politics and put forth the rights of workers and marginalised people.
'Prominent face'
'Even after stepping back from active party politics, he continued to wield his pen and voice sharply against religious bigotry, the rise of right-wing forces, and the fascist projects of BJP-RSS combine until his final days. He was one of the most prominent faces of the 1970s Naxalbari movement in West Bengal. Long live Comrade Azizul Haque,' a statement from CPI(ML) Liberation read.
Haque had suffered 18 years of incarceration after he was arrested on multiple occasions. Many of his political comrades alleged that he was tortured in police custody and suffered lifelong ailments and injuries because of the torture.
Haque was one of the first Leftist leaders who was expelled from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for following his mentor Charu Mazumdar's ideology of 'bonduker nol-i, khomotar utsa' (power grows at the barrel of the gun).
He co-founded the CPI(ML)'s Second Central Committee with Nishith Bhattacharya based on Mazumdar's ideologies. During their time, they had tried to establish parallel revolutionary governments in West Bengal and Bihar.
The veteran leader was born in Howrah's Uluberia in 1942 and joined the Naxal movement early in life at the age of 17. He was born in an influential zamindari family but gave up his share of the land as a show of his political ideology. He was one of the faces of the Naxal uprising in the Sundarbans area and led a massive uprising against the local Pal Chowdhury zamindars of the area.
After he was set free from prison for a second time in 1989, he took to writing about various social issues, including his own time in jail. He was a published author and wrote books such as Karagare Athero Bochor (Eighteen years in jail) and Naxalbari: Tirish Bochor Age Ebong Pore (Naxalbari: Thirty years before and after).
A procession led by friends, admirers, many college students and comrades took the body to the Medical College, Kolkata and donated it to the government medical facility for research purposes as per Haque's wish.
Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretary of CPI(ML), expressed his condolences over Haque's passing. 'Long years of incarceration and torture had badly impaired his health. Freed in 1989, he took to writing and championing the cause of various people's rights,' Mr. Bhattacharya wrote on X.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also offered her condolences and referred to him as a 'revolutionary and resolute leader who never bowed his head in his long political career.'
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