Comrade Amritpal Passi or Jagseer left us exactly 13 years ago on February 9th, tragically succumbing to Cancer. He was a state Commitee member of the Communist Party Re-Organisation Centre of India (Marxist Leninist) We also commemorated his 70th birthday on January 22nd this year. Without doubt he was one of the most defining or impactful comrades in Punjab his lifetime. Till his last breadth he illuminated the spark of Marxism-Leninism-Mao thought or the spirit of liberation .Without doubt he was one of the great crusaders of the practice of mass line combating left and right deviations like a boulder confronting a gale. Few comrades made such a an immense contribution to crystallising the line of Comrades Tarimela Nagi Reddy and Harbhajan Sohi..The theme of his entire life is a perfect illustration of the essence of the soul of a revolutionary who is never obstructed by the most tortuous paths. Even the continuous ebb and flow in his life never deterred him. from crystallizing the revolutionary road. In all the most crucial junctures of the Communist movement in Punjab Comrade Jagseer confronted the enemy or ruling class camp with fists and nerves of iron.
His funeral on February 10th in 2008 was one of the most touching of any revered comrade in the Communist revolutionary camp of Punjab. held in Faridkot.His body was wrapped in a red flag giving vibrations of a red spark illuminating touching the very core of your sole. Slogans were raised at their utmost crescendo with a huge contingent of well-wishers.
In his very childhood in Khalsa higher secondary school he revealed his great intelligence, performing outstandingly.Inspite of facing grave economic hardships he secured admission in the Science college in Jagraon .
He gained his baptism in revolutionary politics participating in a student upheaval in Jagraon, quitting his Msc course half-way.The Moga movement of 1972 was the turning point in the life of Jagseer.It turned him into a whole-timer of the underground Communist revolutionary organisation. He played a vanguard role in nurturing the democratic forces during the famous Moga Movement in 1972 with state repression at a crescendo. Comrades like Jagseer were like a pivot to the protracted resistance of the Students and youth in the Moga Sangram rally. In the annals of revolutionary history of Punjab his role in rallying mass revolutionary resistance will never be forgotten.
It is truly remarkable how for 38 years he unflinchingly defended the correct international and national Communist revolutionary line. In the deepest depths of despair he could ressurect communist revolutionary forces to confront the enemy.
Comrade Jagseer was one of the prime architects in combating the left adventurist line of ‘annihilation of class enemies’ of the Charu Mazumdar trend and giving life to the line of Taraimela Nagi Reddy in the Punjab coordination Commitee of Communist Revolutionaries. Many comrades were swayed either by the left adventurist trend of Charu Mazumdar or the rightist trend of Satyanarayan Singh.Comrade Jagseer showed great insight in demarcating .from the left adventurist line that de-linked capture of state power with agrarian revolution. The spark of massline shimmered at a crescendo in the late 1970’s led by the revolutionary youth and student mass organizations. With the mastery of a surgeon or professor and unflinching determination of a soldier he imbibed the politics of mass agrarian revolutionary line.
For a while in the 1980’s he was victim of the negative trend of splits within the Unity Center of Communist Revolutionaries of India in 1979 and 1982 .However his remarkable insight enabled him to re-instate himself into the contingent of the correct Communist revolutionary line. In the 1980’s with great skill he propelled the mass revolutionary democratic character of the movement confronting Khalistani fundamentalism and state terrorism. He defended the Marxist -Leninist nationality line with great diligence, when several comrades were swayed by Sikh fundamentalist ideology. He played an important role in sharpening the cutting edge or strengthening the backbone of the party.
When Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and earlier East European regimes were toppled in 1989 Comrade Passi with unflinching tenacity defended Socialism. Within party rank she left no stone unturned in exposing that USSR was revisionist after 1956 and so were all the East European countries and shimmering the essence of Marxism-Leninism Mao Tse Tung thought. Comrade Jagseer refuted the propaganda of failure of Socialism by Western media at the very core.
In the 1980’s Jagseer was one of the architects in shaping the Communist revolutionary unity of various contingents. This was crystallised towards the formation of the Centre of Communist Revolutionaries of India in 1988 and the Communist Party Re-Organistaion Centre of India (Marxist-Leninist) in 1994.
It was comrades like Jagseer who gave shape to the massline practice of the Communist Party Re-Organisation Centre of India (Marxist-Leninist).With deep Leninist mastery they combated trends that were inclined towards Sikh extremist politics or leaning towards parliamentary line. Great skill was displayed by them in building revolutionary bastions within class mass organizations to rally revolutionary mass resistance and maintain democratic functioning within mass organisations.
Like many revolutionary mass leaders Jagseer may not have come into the limelight but as an underground party member he played an organic role working as a fraction in grinding the cadre steering the mass organizations towards mass revolutionary line.
Comrade Jagseer invested his utmost energy to knitting all Communist revolutionaries into a unified party, on the basis of Marxism-Leninism Mao Thought.
Today his practice has relevance when deviationist trends still persist within the Communist revolutionary rank sin Punjab. The most predominant are the aligning with Sikh religious forces in the name of Punjabi nationality, open party functioning or parliamentary trends, converging mass platforms into party fronts and caste-identity politics. Today the C.P.RC.I (M.L) in practice combats all these trends
Quoting an extract from a statement by the state Commitee of the CPRCI(ML) “Comrade Jagseer utilized his specific talents to guide revolutionary practice while fulfilling his responsibilities as a state commitee member. His contribution to our achievements in the field of communist revolutionary education and propaganda was an important one, due to his specific trait of theoretical study, intellectual capacity, and ability as a Marxist writer and commentator.”
‘The manifestation of confidence in the correct international and national line, based on look back on the practices of communist revolutionary movement by Comrade Jagseer,was not only exemplary as to correct communist attitude, it also became the basis of revolutionary practice for the rest of his life-a period of more than two decades.”
“Comrade Amritpal left us forever at a time when the class struggle of the people is bracing itself for new advances and badly needs genuine communist revolutionary leadership. The parting of any leading personality from the leading ranks of the Communist revolutionary movement is a serious loss which can me made up only by our great revolutionary movement, will endeavour.”
Harsh Thakor is a political commentator who has toured India, mainly Punjab and written on massline,Maoism,Tarimela Nagi Reddy line and peasant struggles. on blogs like Democracy and Class Struggle and Otto’s War Room. [email protected]
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