Nanded: Various social organisations held a condolence meeting on Thursday for veteran socialist leader and journalist Pannalal Surana, who died in Solapur aged 93. The gathering at Science College Boys’ Hostel heard tributes to his unwavering principles and social work.
Nanded Education Society in-charge president Pravin Patil said Surana contested the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections but refused prominent positions. “Leaders like him are rare today. The very society for which socialist leaders fought eventually stopped supporting them,” Patil remarked.
Surana, born on July 9, 1933, in Barshi, joined the Rashtra Seva Dal in school and later participated in Jayaprakash Narayan’s Bhoodan Movement. He served as state secretary of the Socialist Party and edited Daily Marathwada. Imprisoned during the Emergency, he later founded ‘Aapla Ghar’ for children orphaned by the Marathwada earthquake and led land rights movements.
Former MLA Gangadhar Patane and district chief of Marathwada Janata Vikas Parishad Balaji Pompalwar also spoke. Surana’s 70-year public life spanned from the Quit India movement to contemporary politics.
