Veteran communist leader Burgula Narsing Rao no more

Veteran communist leader and an active participant of Telangana Armed Struggle, Burgula Narsing Rao, passed away here on Monday.

He is survived by wife Mangutha, daughter Malavika and sons Ajay and Vijay. 89-year-old Narsing Rao was born in a family of freedom-fighters like Burgula Ramakrishna Rao, the first Chief Minister of erstwhile Hyderabad State, who were all involved in the struggle for self-rule in Hyderabad State and the Independence struggle.

His childhood experiences shaped his ideas of nationalism and secularism and the nationalist Urdu daily

Imroze edited by Shoebullah Khan was published from their house.

The killing of Shoebullah Khan influenced his thinking on secularism and religion, turning him towards Marxism and communism. He was the first president of All Hyderabad Students Union and was active in the communist movement and the anti-Razakar movement for which he was sent to jail. He was also in the forefront of the Mulki movement. He was elected as the first president of the All India Students Federation at its Lucknow conference.

Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao expressed deep condolences over the demise of Burgula Narsing Rao. In a message, the Chief Minister recalled Narsing Rao's role in the armed struggle as well as the subsequent phase of Telangana statehood movement and said his contributions could never be forgotten. He hailed Narsing Rao for leading several communist and progressive movements.

Narsing Rao’s demise is an irreplaceable loss to Telangana State, the Chief Minister said. He conveyed his heartfelt condolences to members of the bereaved family. Ministers A. Indrakaran Reddy, Koppula Eshwar and Singireddy Niranjan Reddy too expressed their condolences.

CPI former general secretary Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, party’s national secretariat member K. Narayana and senior leader Aziz Pasha expressed their condolences over the death of Narsing Rao.