One of the founders of Viplava Rachayitala Sangham (Virasam), a revolutionary writers’ association, Chalasani Prasad, passed away at his residence at HB Colony in Seetammadhara here on Saturday.

He suffered a heart attack and passed away before an ambulance reached his home.

He was 83 and is survived by two daughters.

Prasad’s wife passed away a few years ago.

Incidentally, Saturday was the 45th anniversary of Virasam, and he was to preside over a meeting scheduled to be held in the evening.

Born at Bhatlapenumarru in Krishna district, Chalasani Prasad was influenced by his paternal uncle, a Communist who was killed during an agitation, and lived all through his life as an unwavering Marxist.

He was detained during Emergency and arrested several times later due to his Marxist thought and pronouncements, and because Virasam was considered as a front organisation of the CPI (Maoist).

Prasad retired as a lecturer of politics at Mrs. A.V.N. College here. He had endeared himself to the students not only because he was an excellent teacher but also as one interested in improving their personality. He was very close to Sri Sri, Raavi Sastry, Ranganayakamma, and several others.

A voracious reader, Chalasani Prasad’s house is packed with thousands of books, many of them rare titles. This is considered as one of the biggest private collection.

He could discuss in depth many issues and would appreciate a good piece of writing, whatever might be the stature of the writer and, at the same time, not spare even a well established author if he or she made a mistake or wrote something that was against society’s interests.

He may have been a Leftist, but read what was written by others too. He would not miss a literary meeting on Viswanadha Satyanarayana, because he appreciated his writings. A few days ago, he presided over a literary meeting on Viswanadha Satyanarayana’s works.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Visakhapatnam / by Special Correspondent / Visakhapatnam – July 26th, 2015