Shamsher Singh Sheri


Shamsher Singh Sheri, commonly known by his nom de guerre, Karam Singh, was a communist leader and a Politburo member of the CPI in India.

Early life and family

Sheri was born in the village of Khokhar Kalan, in the Sangrur district, Punjab. Soon after his birth his father died. He belonged to a middle class family. He had six brothers and three sisters. Sheri was married to Harbans Kaur in 1957.

Guerrilla life

Sheri joined the Communist Party of India and went underground 1969-1970. He took active part in the armed struggle of the party.
In 1974 he joined the Punjab Communist Revolutionary Committee of Harbhajan Sohi, which merged into the UCCRI in 1976. In 1979 the Punjab State Committee formed a parallel UCCRI.
After its 1992 conference, RCCI split in 1995. Sheri became the Secretary of one of the factions, Revolutionary Communist Centre of India. He was re-elected as Secretary at the RCCI conferences in 1996 and 2002. Sheri took active part in the setting up of CCOMPOSA.
In January 2003 RCCI merged with the Maoist Communist Centre, which became the Maoist Communist Centre of India. Sheri became a Central Committee member of MCCI. After the merger of MCCI into the Communist Party of India in 2004, Sheri became a member of the Central Committee of the new party. Sheri also became a Politburo member of the CPI.

Death

Singh suffered from cerebral malaria and jaundice. He died on 30 October 2005.