Senior Communist leader Maruti Manpade, 65, died at a private hospital in Solapur, Maharashtra, on Tuesday. He is survived by a wife and two sons.
Mr. Manpade was, for the last two weeks, suffering from COVID-19 and recently shifted from ESIC Hospital in Kalaburagi to a private hospital in Solapur. As per the family members, his last rites would be held at his native village Leganti in Kamalapur taluk, Kalaburagi district.
Mr. Manpade was widely known for his uncompromised struggles against the exploitation and oppression of toiling masses in the State for the last three decades. He was a leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and entrusted with the responsibility of organising the farmers and agricultural labourers in the State. Leading mass struggles from the front, Mr. Manpade was, along with others, assaulted several times by the police and put behind bars.
Even during the COVID-19 lockdown, Mr. Manpade was not at rest. He would gather some activists and stage demonstrations, maintaining social distance, to bring forth the sorrows and suffering of the people. He was always on the move across the State, especially in northern districts, organising the masses and leading people’s agitations.
Mr. Manpade was also known for his straightforward words and approach in dealing with the people’s issues – be it local or global. He had an in-depth knowledge of national and international issues that impacted the common people on the ground. He had mastered the art of studying complex issues in their comprehensiveness gathering maximum data and elucidating them in a simple language to make the common people understand.
Based in Kalaburagi for a long time, Mr. Manpade was more concerned about the growers of red-gram, black-gram and green-gram – the crops that were extensively grown in the district. He often criticised the Union government’s irrational import policies that, he had felt, was the direct and major reason for the sufferings of the growers. He had strongly opposed the duty-free import of pulses in large quantities from the big players, especially the Adani Group, which had, he held, caused the fall of prices of domestically grown pulses. He had been demanding at least 30% duty on the imports of pulses. His demand was, however, never considered.
Mr. Manpade had also tried his luck in electoral politics by contesting once for Bidar Lok Sabha constituency as a candidate of JD(S) and CPI(M) coalition and thrice for Kamalapur and Gulbarga Rural constituencies, but could not make any difference.
