People's Democracy

COMRADE NRIPEN CHAKRABORTY

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on December 25, 2005:

THE Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) mourns the death of Comrade Nripen Chakraborty, a veteran of the Communist movement in India. He was 100 years old.

Comrade Nripen Chakraborty was one of the founders of the Communist movement in Tripura. He along with the late Dasrath Deb laid the foundations of a strong communist movement in the state. They played a pioneering role in the fight against the feudal aristocracy and for national independence. It is due to their efforts that the integration of the tribals into the national mainstream has taken place.

Elected successively in elections to the state assembly, Comrade Nripen Chakraborty headed the first Left Front government in Tripura that came into being in 1978 and continued in office till 1988.

He was jailed several times and spent many years underground.

Comrade Nripen Chakraborty was elected to the central committee of the CPI(M) in 1972 and to its Polit Bureau in June 1984.

He led a very simple life, and his requirements were spartan. His sacrifices for the cause of the people and the Party made him immensely popular in the state and outside.

Though he was expelled from the Party in 1995, considering his long years of service to the Communist movement, the Party decided to readmit him.

In his death, the Communist movement has lost one of its stalwarts. The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) dips the red flag in his memory. (INN)