A rare labour lawyer who consistently refused to represent management

By Harsh Thakor*

Sanjay Singhvi, a senior leader in India’s Communist revolutionary movement and the working-class movement, passed away on April 23 at Hinduja Hospital due to prostate cancer. He was a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPI(ML) (Mass Line) and the General Secretary of the Trade Union Centre of India (TUCI). His death is regarded as a significant loss to the trade union and Communist movements in India and internationally.

Singhvi came from a family with a strong leftist background. His father, K.K.S. Singhvi, was a noted labour lawyer, and his aunt, Sundra Navalkar, was a prominent trade union leader and Communist revolutionary.

For over four decades, Singhvi played an active role in the Communist movement. He combined his work as a Supreme Court lawyer with leadership in the trade union movement and served as the Asian Coordinator of the International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organisations (ICOR). Throughout his career, Singhvi was known for his logical, scientific communication style, fluency in Hindi and English, and for blending seriousness with humor. Colleagues describe him as dedicated, flexible, and principled, avoiding anger, ego, or pettiness in his activism.

Singhvi was one of a diminishing group of labour lawyers who, for ideological reasons, consistently refused to represent management. He was respected for his efforts in defending workers' rights, including securing limitations on factory working hours. He rejected traditional Communist strategies such as the semi-feudal thesis of Indian society and the protracted people's war approach.

Singhvi’s political involvement began in the student movement, as a member of Vidhyarthi Pragati Sanghatana. A gold medallist in law, he participated in the 1978 anti-fee hike agitation and 'Go to Village' campaigns, linking urban and rural struggles. As a lawyer and activist in Chandrapur, he worked with tribal communities and later with the Akhil Maharashtra Kamgar Union and the Contract Labour Kamgar Union, organizing resistance against contract labour practices.

In the mid-1990s, Singhvi left the CPI(ML) People's War group and joined the CPI(ML) Red Flag led by K.N. Ramachandran, supporting the view that India was a neo-colony. He later played a leading role in the TUCI and worked among airport and diamond industry workers. Singhvi became a Politburo member of the CPI(ML) Red Star from 2011 to 2018, before leaving to form the CPI(ML) Mass Line following internal disagreements.

Within the CPI(ML) Mass Line, he contributed to formulating political documents and organizing conventions. He also participated actively in forming the Mazdoor Adhikar Sangharsh Abhiyan (MASA) and took part in the international Lenin Seminar.

While recognized as a strong trade union leader and organizer, Singhvi's approach to party-building and ideological development has been critiqued by some for deviating from Marxist-Leninist-Maoist orthodoxy. He rejected the Chinese revolutionary path and traditional theories of India's socio-economic structure.

Sanjay Singhvi's life reflected a commitment to workers' rights and revolutionary politics. His contributions to the trade union and Communist movements are noted by many, even as assessments of his political orientation vary.

---

*Freelance journalist

Comments

Whither space for the marginalised in Kerala's privately-driven townships after landslides?

By Ipshita Basu, Sudheesh R.C. In the early hours of July 30 2024, a landslide in the Wayanad district of Kerala state, India, killed 400 people. The Punjirimattom, Mundakkai, Vellarimala and Chooralmala villages in the Western Ghats mountain range turned into a dystopian rubble of uprooted trees and debris.

Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar’s views on religion as Tagore’s saw them

By Harasankar Adhikari Religion has become a visible subject in India’s public discourse, particularly where it intersects with political debate. Recent events, including a mass Gita chanting programme in Kolkata and other incidents involving public expressions of faith, have drawn attention to how religion features in everyday life. These developments have raised questions about the relationship between modern technological progress and traditional religious practice.

Election bells ringing in Nepal: Can ousted premier Oli return to power?

By Nava Thakuria* Nepal is preparing for a national election necessitated by the collapse of KP Sharma Oli’s government at the height of a Gen Z rebellion (youth uprising) in September 2025. The polls are scheduled for 5 March. The Himalayan nation last conducted a general election in 2022, with the next polls originally due in 2027. However, following the dissolution of Nepal’s lower house of Parliament last year by President Ram Chandra Poudel, the electoral process began under the patronage of an interim government installed on 12 September under the leadership of retired Supreme Court judge Sushila Karki. The Hindu-majority nation of over 29 million people will witness more than 3,400 electoral candidates, including 390 women, representing 68 political parties as well as independents, vying for 165 seats in the 275-member House of Representatives.

Jayanthi Natarajan "never stood by tribals' rights" in MNC Vedanta's move to mine Niyamigiri Hills in Odisha

By A Representative The Odisha Chapter of the Campaign for Survival and Dignity (CSD), which played a vital role in the struggle for the enactment of historic Forest Rights Act, 2006 has blamed former Union environment minister Jaynaynthi Natarjan for failing to play any vital role to defend the tribals' rights in the forest areas during her tenure under the former UPA government. Countering her recent statement that she rejected environmental clearance to Vendanta, the top UK-based NMC, despite tremendous pressure from her colleagues in Cabinet and huge criticism from industry, and the claim that her decision was “upheld by the Supreme Court”, the CSD said this is simply not true, and actually she "disrespected" FRA.

Gig workers hold online strike on republic day; nationwide protests planned on February 3

By A Representative Gig and platform service workers across the country observed a nationwide online strike on Republic Day, responding to a call given by the Gig & Platform Service Workers Union (GIPSWU) to protest what it described as exploitation, insecurity and denial of basic worker rights in the platform economy. The union said women gig workers led the January 26 action by switching off their work apps as a mark of protest.

With infant mortality rate of 5, better than US, guarantee to live is 'alive' in Kerala

By Nabil Abdul Majeed, Nitheesh Narayanan In 1945, two years prior to India's independence, the current Chief Minister of Kerala, Pinarayi Vijayan, was born into a working-class family in northern Kerala. He was his mother’s fourteenth child; of the thirteen siblings born before him, only two survived. His mother was an agricultural labourer and his father a toddy tapper. They belonged to a downtrodden caste, deemed untouchable under the Indian caste system.

Stands 'exposed': Cavalier attitude towards rushed construction of Char Dham project

By Bharat Dogra* The nation heaved a big sigh of relief when the 41 workers trapped in the under-construction Silkyara-Barkot tunnel (Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand) were finally rescued on November 28 after a 17-day rescue effort. All those involved in the rescue effort deserve a big thanks of the entire country. The government deserves appreciation for providing all-round support.

Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb: Akbar to Shivaji -- the cross-cultural alliances that built India

By Ram Puniyani What is Indian culture? Is it purely Hindu, or a blend of many influences? Today, Hindu right-wing advocates of Hindutva claim that Indian culture is synonymous with Hindu culture, which supposedly resisted "Muslim invaders" for centuries. This debate resurfaced recently in Kolkata at a seminar titled "The Need to Protect Hinduism from Hindutva."

Report finds 28 communal riots, 14 mob lynching incidents targeting Muslims

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* A study released by the Mumbai-based Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS), supported by data from India Hate Lab, documents incidents of violence and targeting of Muslims across India in 2025. The report compiles press accounts and fact-finding material to highlight broad trends in communal conflict, mob attacks, and hate speech.

Search This Blog