Nripen Chakraborty (4 April 1905 – 25 December 2004) was an Indian

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

politician who served as the Chief minister of Tripura state from 1978 to 1988. Nripen Chakraborty was involved in the Communist movement in India for six decades.

Life

He was born at

Bikrampur Bikrampur ("City of Courage") was a pargana situated south of Dhaka, the modern capital city of Bangladesh. In the present day, it is known as Munshiganj District of Bangladesh. It is a historic region in Bengal and was a part of the Bhawal Est ...

Dhaka District Dhaka District ( bn, ঢাকা জেলা, Dhaka jela) is a district in central Bangladesh, and is the densest district in the nation. It is a part of the Dhaka Division. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, and rests on the eastern banks o ...

of Bengal province of British India (present-day

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

). He was the ninth child of Rajkumar and Uttamsunadari Chakraborty. He passed the entrance examination from Outsahi High School in 1925. He left his studies in

Dhaka University The University of Dhaka (also known as Dhaka University, or DU) is a public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is the oldest university in Bangladesh. The university opened its doors to students on July 1st 1921. Currently i ...

to join the Indian freedom movement. In 1931, he took part in the civil disobedience movement. He joined the

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

in 1934. He was elected secretary of the

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

unit of the party in 1937. In 1950, he was sent to Tripura by the party, and became an important organizer there. After the split in the CPI in 1964, he joined

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in term ...

. He became the secretary of the state unit of CPI(M) in 1967. He was elected to the Central Committee of the CPI(M) in 1972 and to its Polit Bureau in June 1984.

In Tripura

Nripen Chakraborty was elected to the Tripura Territorial Council in 1957, and became the leader of the opposition in 1962. After Tripura’s attainment of full statehood, he became the member of the state

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, or Vidhan Sabha, or also Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in the states and union territories of India. In the 28 states and 3 union territories with a unicameral state legislature, it is the sole legislati ...

in 1972. In 1977, he was a minister in two successive short-lived coalition governments, first between the Left parties and the Congress for Democracy (CFD) and then between the Left and the Janata Party. When the Left Front won the elections on 31 December 1977, to the Vidhan Sabha of Tripura state, he became the chief minister and continued in office till 1988. After the defeat of the Left Front in 1988 elections, he became the leader of the opposition in Tripura Vidhan Sabha from 1988 to 1993. In 1993 elections, the Left Front again came back to the power in Tripura and he became the chairman of the State Planning Board. In 1995 he was expelled from the CPI(M), but he remained a member of the Vidhan Sabha tiil 1998.

As a journalist

During 1939–41, he worked as a sub-editor in the

Ananda Bazar Patrika ''Anandabazar Patrika'' (Bengali: আনন্দবাজার পত্রিকা, ) is an Indian Bengali-language daily newspaper owned by the ABP Group. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1 million cop ...

. He was also the co-editor of the ''Swadhinata'', the CPI organ in Bengali. Later, he was a regular columnist in the daily ''Desher Katha'', the mouthpiece of the CPI(M) Tripura state unit, often under his pen-name, ''Arup Roy'' till 1995.

The last days

In December 2004 he became seriously ill and was brought to SSKM Hospital in Kolkata. On 24 December 2004, the Polit Bureau of CPI(M) decided to readmit him. He died on 25 December 2004, following a cardiac arrest.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Chakraborty, Nripen 1905 births 2004 deaths Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from Tripura 20th-century Bengalis Chief Ministers of Tripura Indian Marxist journalists University of Dhaka alumni People from Bikrampur Chief ministers from Communist Party of India (Marxist) Tripura MLAs 1977–1983 Tripura politicians 20th-century Indian journalists Indian male journalists Tripura MLAs 1983–1988 Tripura MLAs 1988–1993