People's Democracy

Comrade Chandrabali Singh

On May 23, Prakash Karat, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), sent the following message of condolence on Comrade Chandrabali Singh’s demise.

IT is with profound grief that I received the news of the death of Comrade Chandrabali Singh.

A prominent literary figure, Chandrabali Singh was the founding general secretary of the Janvadi Lekhak Sangh. He made a big contribution to the progressive literary movement.

I convey my heartfelt condolences to his family members.

Through a statement, the All India Agricultural Workers Union too condoled the sad demise of Comrade Chandrabali Singh in Varanasi on May 23. It said, “His life and dedication to the working people of this country will always inspire intellectuals to follow his path of participating in people’s struggles on the ground and learning from them. This commitment of his will be remembered for all time to come by his comrades both in India and Nepal.”

It may be noted here that Professor Chandrabali Singh, a noted Hindi literary critic, was the founder general secretary of the Janvadi Lekhak Sangh, and later its president. He translated a large body of poems by Publo Neruda, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman and Nazim Hikmet, and in several ways brought an enormous wealth of ideas to the contemporary Hindi literature which will inspire the young of generations to come.

Comrade Chandrabali Singh has left behind his son, Praval Kumar Singh, his wife and grand daughter.