People's Democracy

Comrade Saroj Chanda

COMRADE Saroj Chanda, veteran leader of the CPI(M) and president of the state council of Tripura Khet Mazdoor Union, and working committee member of the All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU) passed away on October 14 evening at G B Pant Medical College and Hospital, Agartala. He was 76 years old and was a bachelor. He had been suffering from liver cancer for the last six months, which was detected at an acute stage in Kolkata in May this year. After being diagnosed, he had been receiving chemotherapy for the last four months. He was admitted into the hospital on October 11 after his condition deteriorated swiftly.

Immediately after receiving the sad news, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and chief minister of Tripura, Manik Sarkar, CPI(M) state secretary, Baidyanath Majumder,  state secretariat member, Manik Dey and other leaders of the  Party and mass organisations rushed to the hospital to have a last glimpse of their beloved leader. 

The mortal remains of Comrade Chanda were lying in state at the Sadar divisional committee office of the Party and scores of leaders, workers and sympathisers of the Party thronged the Sadar DC office to pay their homage. Chitta Chanda, elder brother of the departed leader and chairman of the Party state control commission, draped the body of Comrade Saroj Chanda with Red flag and paid homage to the legacy of a true communist. Samir Chakraborty on behalf of Sadar DC of CPI(M), Murani Mohan Saha of RSP, Prasanta Kapali of CPI, Ashesh Debroy on behalf of TECC (BHR) and many other admirers paid floral tributes to Comrade Chanda.

The funeral procession of Comrade Chanda, which began from the Sadar DC office the next day at 10:30 in the morning, was joined by innumerable followers, admirers, and a large section of the intellectuals irrespective of political line, who had personal intimacy with the departed leader, attended the funeral, apart from hundreds of grieving leaders and workers of the Party and mass organisations. The procession first approached the CPI(M) state committee office where Baidyanath Majumder draped the Party flag on the body of Comrade Chanda and put floral wreaths on behalf of the state committee as a mark of homage to the departed leader. Manik Sarkar, Party central committee members Aghore Debbarma and Bijan Dhar, several state committee members, leaders of the Khet Mazdoor Union, Kisan Sabha and Tripura Rajya Upajati Ganamukti Parishad, and the workers of the state committee office and Daily Desher Katha office paid their last respects to Comrade Saroj Chanda. The funeral procession spiraled through the streets of Agartala town saddening the faces of the viewers waiting on both sides of the road. After a while the mortal remains of Comrade Chanda were consigned to flames amidst hundreds of his admirers.

Born on January 9, 1930 at Mehari village of Comilla district of present Bangladesh, Comrade Chanda spent his school life and college life in Agartala with his father who was an employee of the royal administration. He was the youngest son of three brothers. While studying in the M B B College, he came in touch with the Leftist movement and gradually emerged as a front ranking leader of the communist movement in the state. He enrolled himself as a member of the Communist Party of India in 1951 and in the same year he was jailed by the then Congress regime without framing any charges. After his release from detention, he was assigned the task of editing the Tripurar Katha, the first organ of the undivided Communist party in the state published from Agartala. Afterwards, he became the Party state council member and in 1962, he was entrusted with the responsibility of secretaryship of the Party state council. He successfully discharged his responsibility as secretary at a time when the other Party leaders like Nripen Chakraborty and Dasarath Deb were in jail. Comrade Chanda joined the CPI(M) after the split in 1964 and he contested the assembly election in 1967 against the then chief minister Sachindralal Singh. In 1968 he joined the CPI. In the 1980s he re-joined the CPI(M) and opted to involve himself to organise the agricultural workers in the state. In 1986, he became the president of the state council of Tripura Khet Mazdoor Union (KMU) and subsequently, he was elected as central executive committee member of the AIAWU – both responsibilities which he discharged to his best ability till his death.

He was a good writer, columnist and political commentator. He was a regular writer in the Party organ Daily Desher Katha and Party’s literary periodical Pubabhas.

The state secretariat of the CPI(M) in a statement expressed deep condolence to the family members of Comrade Saroj Chanda. It stated that the people of the state would never forget the contribution of Comrade Chanda in developing the democratic movement in the state. As a mark of homage to the memory of Comrade Chanda, the Party flag was kept at half mast throughout the state on the day of funeral.

The chief minister Manik Sarkar in a separate statement noted the important role played by Comrade Saroj Chanda since the early fifties in developing the communist movement in the state and strengthening of the Party organisation. He stated that the Left movement will very much feel the absence of Comrade Saroj Chanda. Various mass organisations and Party committees have condoled the death of Comrade Saroj Chanda in separate statements.

(Haripada Das)