People's Democracy

A Pioneer Of The Women’s Movement

COMRADE Kanak Mukherjee (Dasgupta) was born in 1921 in Jessore district of undivided Bengal. Her father, Satish Chandra Dasgupta, was an eminent lawyer. She was born and brought up in a political atmosphere. Even when she was a student of class VIII, Comrade Kanak Mukherjee came into contact with communist leaders like Krishna Benode Roy, Sukumar Mitra and Santimoy Ghosh. She passed matriculation in 1937 and in the same year came to Calcutta to take admission in Bethun College. She joined All India Students Federation in 1938 and got Communist Party membership the same year.

Comrade Kanak Mukherjee became the founder secretary of United Girls Students Association in 1938. She attended the All India Girls Students Conference held in Lucknow and later the All India Students Federation Conference held in Delhi in 1939. When she returned to Calcutta, police began to harass her. Under instructions from Comrade Muzaffar Ahmed, she went underground. While staying in an underground Party centre in Calcutta she came into close contact with Muzaffar Ahmad, Abdullah Rasul, Somnath Lahiri, Saroj Mukherjee and others. In 1942, she married Saroj Mukherjee. In 1943, she attended the first Party Congress as a delegate. Comrade Kanak Mukherjee was one the founders of Mahila Atmaraksha Samity.

In 1945, she joined a private firm. But she lost her job as she took part in a strike. Later, she joined a primary school. When in 1948 the Communist Party was again declared illegal, she, along with her husband Saroj and two year-old son Suman, went underground. In 1949 she was arrested and was sent to Presidency Jail. She took part in hunger strike for 40 days. She was released in 1952. In 1953, she passed BT and joined a local school as a teacher. In 1962, during China-India conflict, Comrade Saroj Mukherjee and Comrade Kanak Mukherjee were again arrested and sent to DumDum and Presidency Jail respectively. In 1967, she joined as a lecturer in Calcutta Women’s College and retired in 1981.

Comrade Kanak Mukherjee took a leading role in the fight against revisionist trend. In 1971, when West Bengal Democratic Women’s Association was formed, she became its vice-president. From 1981 to 1988 she was vice-president of All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA). She was a member of the CPI(M) West Bengal state committee since 1978 till her death. She was elected to the CPI(M) central committee from 1989 to 1998.

Comrade Kanak Mukherjee was a prolific writer. She established herself as a leading poet in the progressive camp. She edited Bengali Women’s magazine Ghare-Baire since 1957 and Ekshathee since 1968. She acquired considerable skill in editing, printing and publication. Comrade Kanak Mukherjee has written more than 40 books in Bengali. She has also written on the history of women’s movement in Bengali. She was also a good speaker and throughout her life raised the issues of toiling millions, particularly the problems of women.

Comrade Kanak Mukherjee was a member of Rajya Sabha from 1978 to 1990. She traveled to Poland, Soviet Union, DPRK and China. She was awarded prizes by different organisations for her contribution to Bengali literature. She was honoured by the University of Calcutta. Comrade Mukherjee received Muzaffar ahamad memorial award last year.

In 1990, Comrade Saroj Mukherjee died. During the last few years she had almost lost her vision but she remained active and used to attend all the major programmes of the Party and was engaged with editing Ekshathe. She also attended the 21st West Bengal state conference of CPI(M) held last month in Kamarhati. Comrade Kanak Mukherjee is survived by her only son, Suman.