Sanjay Singhvi: A Labour Lawyer

Harsh Thakor

Sanjay Singhvi, a leader of the Indian Communist revolutionary movement, a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPIML (Mass Line), and the General Secretary of TUCI, passed away on April 23 at Hinduja hospital.

Sanjay descended from a family of powerful leftist leanings. His father, KKS Singhvi was a famous labour lawyer for many decades, while Aunt SundraNavalkar was a hard core Communist Revolutionary trade Union leader.

He played a pivotal role in the Communist revolutionary movement for over four decades. 

Sanjay was a Supreme Court lawyer and a national level trade union leader (General Secretary of TUCI) at the same time.

The democratic camp mourns the death of Sanjay Singhvi and conveys condolences to his family. His role in fortifying the backbone of the trade Union movement is unforgettable.

He was Asian co - ordinator of International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organisations (ICOR) also. From the very beginning he was general secretary of Trade Union Centre of India (TUCI).

Sanjay Singhvi was intensely active and effective, deeply passionate and helpful, a sharp intellectual and hardworking activist. Sanjay would speak logically and scientifically in a manner that convinced others, both individually and in meetings. He would impress the audience by speaking fluently and analytically in Hindi and English. He would blend seriousness with uncanny humour.

Few trade unionists understood or influenced workers better or elevated trade union militancy to such heights of intensity in Mumbai as Sanjay Singhvi. He led a life of unwavering dedication to resistance of people across the globe to liberate the world from the clutches or bondage of inequality, injustice and discrimination.

Sanjay, belonged to a vanishing class of labour lawyers who did not represent management for ideological reasons. He made employers shiver, who would never budge when it comes to the rights of workers.

He fought a relentless battle against the credibility of the law which extended working hours for factory workers beyond twelve hours a day and secured a victory in establishing limited hours of work for the working class.

Sanjay wholly rejected traditional line of protracted people’s war midway and the semi-colonial and semi-feudal thesis on mode of production in India.

Sanjay dipped his feet first into the movement in the student’s ranks as a member of VidhyartiPraghatiSanghatana.He was a gold medallist in the law university, proving his acumen towards law. P He played an integral role in the 1978 anti-fee hike agitation, enrolling support to the very core. Sanjay also enthusiastically participated in the ‘Go to Village campaigns ‘, linking the student problems to those prevailing in villages. In Chandrapur as an activist of Naujwan Bharat Sabha he steered adivasi resistance and as a lawyer defended tribal rights being once even framed by the police. When he was a student in St Xavier’s College, he and his fellow colleagues had organised the canteen workers in the college to demand fair wages.

 He went on to work in the Akhil Maharashtra Kamgar Union and the Contract Labour Kamgar Udhyog union, where he was in the forefront of militant struggles, organising resistance against contract labour.

Inspite of being an astute trade Unionist and a capable organiser Sanjay, however, failed to properly or consistently develop the orientation of the massline or Leninist practice, or adopt correct approach towards party building.

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Vol 57, No. 49, June 1 - 7, 2025