CPI leader Farooqui dead

Communist Party of India veteran M Farooqui died in New Delhi on Wednesday following a massive heart attack. He was 77.

Farooqui is survived by his wife and a son.

The end came at the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital, where he was rushed after he suffered a cardiac arrest at a seminar.

Born in 1920 at a village in Sahranpur in Uttar Pradesh, Farooqui moved to Delhi in 1930 for higher studies and took active part in the freedom struggle. He was the first Indian to be expelled from St Stephen's College for organising a strike against Jawaharlal Nehru's arrest.

He was awarded a Tamra Patra in recognition of his role in the freedom movement.

Beginning his political career as general secretary of the All India Students Federation in 1941, Farooqui became the CPI Delhi unit secretary -- a post held by him until 1971. He became a member of the CPI national executive in 1974 and of the national secretariat in 1982.

UNI