Surjeet made the party's stand public in his address to the 18th Party Congress in 2005 when he said that there were basic differences between Congress and the Left because of the respective class characters and noted that the struggle between the two approaches will continue.

"Nonetheless, we recognise the Congress as a secular party. As the biggest political party in the country, its role has a relevance in determining the secular character of the state at this juncture. It is this concern which led us to extend support to the Congress-led UPA government," he had said.

History turned a full circle when his party took on the UPA and sought to topple the government he had helped form on the issue of Indo-US nuclear deal.

One of the founder-members of the CPI-M after the CPI's vertical split in 1964, Surjeet had been a staunch opponent of communal politics and kept track of the political happenings despite his age. He was also very vocal in slamming American imperialism and its campaign against Iraq.

Born on March 23, 1916 in a remote village in Jalandhar district of Punjab, Surjeet had his baptism in politics by fire at a very young age of 15 when he joined the 'Naujawan Bharat Sabha' formed by none other than Bhagat Singh and other revolutionaries.

His steely nerves were on show when he dared to tear the Union Jack and hoist the tricolour atop the district court building in Hoshiarpur at an age of 16, only to be shot twice by the British police and landing in jail for the first time.

He had spent a total of ten years in prison.

But that was just a beginning for the young 'sardar' as he took the mighty colonial regime head on several times. His gritty act identifying himself as "London Tod Singh" when asked for his name by a judge during a trial made him popular overnight.

Image: Surjeet hoists the CPI-M flag in Kolkata in 2005.

Photograph: Deshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP/Getty Images

Also see: Basu, Surjeet to miss CPI-M congress on health grounds

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