Comrade Jagadamba, wife of one of the founder Polit Bureau members of CPI(M), Comrade Makineni Basavapunnaiah, died on September 17, 2013 in Hyderabad. She was 94.
Jagadamba was herself a committed Communist activist. Being an active girl interested in socio-political affairs, she was introduced to Communist thought at young age by her brother, Comrade L B Gangadhara Rao, who became Polit Bureau member of the Party later.
She attended the special training classes for women cadre conducted by the Communist Party in 1943 in Vijayawada in which Comrades P Sundarayya and Ch Rajeswara Rao took classes.
Jagadamba also worked as a courier during the historic Telangana armed struggle. At great risk to herself, she supplied arms to the squads by carrying them in trains from Madras as an ordinary woman. Conversant in Telugu, English, Hindi and also to some extent Marathi, she could successfully evade police dragnet.
Condoling the death of Jagadamba, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat in a message to Party state secretary B V Raghavulu conveyed his grief to family members. He noted that Jagadamba remained a steadfast Communist till the end. Many other leaders have conveyed their condolences.
The body of Jagadamba was cremated in Punjagutta crematorium in the city attended by CC members and Party leaders and workers.
September 18, 2013