People's Democracy

 Comrade Ranen Sen

COMRADE Ranen Sen, veteran leader of the CPI died on November 13, 2003. Comrade Dr Ranen Sen was born on September 25, 1909 in Jessore district of undivided Bengal.  He received LMF degree from National Medical College and became a doctor.  During student days, he joined Anushilan Samity. Initially he got much inspiration from the speeches of Shapurji Saklatwala, who was a Communist and also a member of the British Parliament. During this time, he decided to join the Communist movement. In early thirties, Ranen Sen along with Muzaffar Ahmad, Abdul Halim and Somnath Lahiri took the initiative to form the Calcutta District Committee of the CPI.  This Calcutta Committee played an important role in uniting other Communist groups in our country. It had close contact with Communist International.   The first central committee of CPI was formed in 1933 and Dr Ranen Sen became its member.  Comrade Latika Sen, a Communist activist and women leader, was his first wife, who became martyr in police firing at Bowbazar in 1949.

After the partition, Dr Ranen Sen became the secretary of Bengal Provincial Committee in 1948.  From 1951 to 1956, he was a member of the Polit Bureau of CPI.  After the split of the Party, he remained with the CPI.  From 1969 to 1971, he was the secretary of CPI West Bengal Provincial Committee. He became the president of AITUC in 1972.  Dr Sen suffered imprisonment for several years before and after independence.

Dr Sen became member of West Bengal Assembly from Manicktala Assembly seat in 1952 and 1957. He was elected to Parliament in 1962 from South-East Kolkata constituency and from Barasat in 1967 and 1971.   He was an able Parliamentarian and had a considerable contribution in this regard. 

The Central Committee of the CPI(M) meeting in Kolkata adopted a condolence resolution on his death.  Harkishan Singh Surjeet, general secretary, Jyoti Basu, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Anil Biswas, Biman Basu, Prakash Karat and Sitaram Yechury, members of the Polit Bureau, went to the CPI state headquarters to pay homage to Dr Ranen Sen.