Obituary: Comrade SITARAM SHASTRY

Sitaram Shastry died on 24.10.2012 by jumping in front of a running train between Adityapur and Gamaria station near Jamshedpur. It was at a place where the train was going over bridge some thirty feet above the river. His body was thrown down. It lay near the calmly flowing river. He was about 72 year old.

A week before he was diagnosed as having throat cancer. His daughter Kanti Prabha (Chinu) and her husband had come from Delhi to take him to Delhi for treatment. On the day they were supposed to fly out, he left home early morning and did not return. When contacted on his mobile he said he will not come back and that they should not try to look for him. Then he switched off his phone.

From 1968 onwards, till his death, Sitaram had been a full time revolutionary/social activist. Till then he had worked for LIC in Jamshedpur and was a union leader. That year, like many other places in India, a lot of young people turned towards revolution. In Jamshedpur quite a few TELCO workers resigned, collected their PF and joined the revolutionary movement. Those were heady times.

Some of his special qualities were apparent from the very beginning the first and foremost being his extraordinary courageousness. He never feared any one, never feared having a different opinion and lived his life exactly on his own terms. He had great mobility – both in space and across a wide section of people. He also had a great understanding of the region - Jharkhand, which only improved with his wide travels in every nook and corner of the region and his interaction with every section of the Jharkhand movement. Sitaram worked tirelessly for the Jharkhand movement, knew every Jharkhand leader and was respected by all of them. He brought them together again and again.

Being a communist he had a great understanding of the working classes of the region. He developed later a similar understanding of the Chhatisgarh region when he worked with Comrade Neogi. But he began his work in Dhanbad district working with A. K. Roy of BCKU. He did election campaigns for A. K. Roy and later edited his journal, ‘Hirawal’ (Advanced Troop) for the working class. Everywhere he had a tough time because while money was forthcoming for TU work and for the lawyers, there was no money for the journal or for his upkeep. The TU workers could live off workers but it was difficult for an editor!

During emergency it was tough for all political workers and he moved to Bombay to help edit Blitz Hindi. He was fantastic in Hindi – he wrote the best simple Hindi for the working classes and later translations became a steady source for his maintenance. He wrote a brilliant booklet entitled ‘Mehnatkashon ko Kitaben Chhahiye' (The working class wants books).

In the early eighties, he edited Mitan for Comrade Neogi in Chhatisgarh. Everywhere he went he made good contacts with the activists of the region, be they workers, peasants or as it happened in Chhatisgarh, with doctors, engineers and lawyers also.

Very often Sitaram came across as a difficult person. I think the main reason was that he was impatient and unhappy with us for not being active enough, not understanding the need to align with other movements like the Jharkhand movement, with youth coming out of JP movement and lastly not understanding the need to support each other, not living in communes. However he was respected and loved by a very large number of people. Hundreds of comrades and friends received his (and Nalini's, his wife) hospitality, help and advice. He will be missed by a large number of people.

Here we must also touch upon Nalini's role in his life - she held him whole through all the noise and turmoil of his life, despite all their jhagras. She was also extremely generous under all kinds of stress that went inevitably with being married to Sitaram.

Many of us feel sad that he had to commit suicide. Those who saw his mutilated body near the river will carry a haunting image for a long time to come. Many of us ask – ‘Why it had to be like this?’

Given the situation that was probably the only valid option. His family in spite of his protests had persuaded him to go to Delhi for treatment. Weak and vulnerable as he was, he could not argue out his case for not going. But he was not prepared to face a situation where he was dependent on others, face hospitalisation and painful existence of throat cancer. So he took the courageous decision of walking out. It was characteristic of him and his decision fitted his personality. The sad thing is that he had to be alone in his last moments. It is a sad commentary on our progressive movement that it has not supported the movement for legalising euthanasia, that we are not prepared to face such a situation and we were not available to help him end his life in an honourable and dignified manner.

We convey our heartfelt condolences to Nalini (wife) and to Chinu (daughter).

October 27, 2012

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