Chennai: Veteran CPI-M leader and co-founder
of All-India Democratic Women`s Association (AIDWA) Pappa
Umanath died today in Tiruchirappalli.
The 80-year-old trade unionist, who was a CPI-M central
committee member and a former MLA also, was not keeping well
for sometime, party sources said.
She is survived by husband R Umanath, also a veteran
communist leader and CPI (M) Central Committee member, and two
daughters.
An active member of railway trade unionism at a young
age, Umanath later co-founded AIDWA and had been jailed on
various occasions, including when the communist party was
banned in 1948.
She had represented Tiruverumbur in Tiruchirappally
district in the Tamil Nadu Assembly in 1989 and had been a
member of the CPI (M) state committee besides being party`s
Central Committee member.
Party general secretary Prakash Karat condoled her death.
He hailed her as a leader of women`s movement.
"Her loss is an irreparable damage to the party," CPI (M)
state unit secretary G Ramakrishnan said.
Party flags will fly half-mast for three days and her
body will be kept at the party`s district committee office at
Tiruchirappalli for the public to pay homage, a party
statement said.
-PTI
