New Delhi, March 4 :     Geeta Mukherjee, a leading light of the communist movement and one of the pioneering crusaders for women's reservation in the legislature, passed away here this morning after a heart attack. The 76-year-old CPI leader collapsed at her residence as she was about to leave for Aligarh. Her cremation will take place in Calcutta on Monday. Last night, she had gone to Rashtrapati Bhavan to protest against the Bihar Governor's decision to instal a National Democratic Alliance government. Mukherjee, deputy leader of the CPI in the Lok Sabha, had been part of the Left students' movement during British rule and represented the Panskura constituency in West Bengal for the past 20 years. An indefatigable advocate of the women's reservation Bill, she repeatedly expressed her anguish over the successive governments' failure to pass it. During her last days, the issue uppermost on her mind was getting the Bill passed in Parliament. Women activists told Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who went to Mukherjee's house here to pay his respects, that the government could pay a fitting tribute to the leader by passing the long overdue Bill. 'I shall miss her presence both inside and outside the House,' the Prime Minister said. 'She was a shining example of women's empowerment.' President K.R. Narayanan said in his condolence message: 'In her death, the country has lost a wonderful human being and a beacon of social justice and social transformation.'