Comrade Lebachand Tudu, legendary leader of the Naxalbari-inspired Debra-Gopiballavpur peasant awakening of the 1970s, passed away this evening at his Gopiballabhpur home in Jhargram District. He was 73 and suffering from cancer.

Comrade Lebachand Tudu was a close associate of renowned CPI(ML) leader Comrade Santosh Rana. In the 1977 Assembly election Comrade Santosh Rana had won from the Gopiballabhavpur constituency, Comrade Lebachand Tudu finished a close second from the nearby Nayagram constituency.

Comrade Lebachand Tudu had joined the Communist Party of India -Marxist Leninist- Liberation CPIML at a convention held in Asansol on 7 November 2021 along with scores of comrades from Asansol, Bardhaman, Birbhum, Jhargram and West Medinipur districts. He was elected a member of the party's West Bengal State Committee at the recently held state conference. He was also a member of the all India Coordination Committee of the Adivasi Sangharsh Morcha formed at a convention in Ranchi on 15 November, 2021.

Red Salute Comrade Lebachand!