Agartala, June 7 (IANS) Baidyanath Majumder, an iconic Communist father figure of Tripura, died here early Tuesday. He was 88.

His death was condoled by politicians cutting across party lines.

The last of Tripura's first generation Left leaders, he breathed his last at the Gobinda Ballabh Pant Medical College and Hospital here, senior physician Pradip Bhowmik told reporters Tuesday. Majumder suffered multiple brain strokes, chronic liver disease and septicemia besides other old age ailments.

A bachelor, he had a simple lifestyle and perfect political career. Majumder was regarded by all, irrespective of their political ideology.

"With the death of this legendary Communist, we have lost a real guardian," Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said.

"Majumder was a real political monk in India. He was a role model for present generation politicians for his supreme honesty and undemanding life," said veteran Congress leader Tapas Dey.

Popularly known as Baidyanathda and also Sitalda, he was elected to the state assembly five times between 1977 and 1998.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Badal Chaudhury, Bijon Dhar and leaders from various parties lines expressed grief over his death.

It was in the undivided Communist Party of India (CPI) that Majumder began his political career in 1942 and got the party membership the next year.

In 1993, Majumder, also a firebrand trade union leader, was inducted as the member of the CPI-M's central committee and became secretary of the party's Tripura unit in 1998.

One of the founding members of the Communist movement in Left-ruled Tripura, Majumder supervised various portfolios in the state for several years and was the deputy chief minister of Tripura from 1993 to 1998.

Guided by legendary Communist leader and former Tripura chief minister Nripen Chakraborty, a maverick, he spent more than five years in different periods in different jails in India, including the Tihar jail in Delhi and the Hazaribagh jail in Jharkhand.

Majumder was the fourth son of Bijoy Chandra Majumder and Sunitibala Devi. He was fluent in several languages, including Hindi and tribal language Kokborok.