Saroj Dutta (March 13, 1914 – August 5, 1971) popularly known comrade SD, was an Indian communist intellectual and poet, active in the

Naxalite Naxalism is the communist ideology of the Naxalites or Naxals, a grouping of political and insurgent groups from India. It is influenced by Maoist political sentiment and ideology. Inspired by Maoism, Charu Majumdar wrote the Historic Eight ...

movement in

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

in the 1960s. He was the first West Bengal state secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI(ML)). He also remained editor-in-chief of the '' Amrita Bazar Patrika'' during the 1940s.Appendix B It is commonly thought that he was killed in a police encounter on August 5, 1971, but till now he was missing in police and state records.

Early life and education

He was born in a land-owning family in

Jessore Jessore (, ), officially Jashore, is a city of Jessore District in Khulna Division. It lies in southwestern Bangladesh. It is home to the first flight training school of the Bangladeshi Air Force, established in 1971. Jessore city consists of 9 wa ...

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

, (now in Bangladesh) on 13 March 1914. He studied at the Victoria Collegiate School in Narail, and later graduated from the

Scottish Church College Scottish Church College is a college affiliated by Calcutta University, India. It offers selective co-educational undergraduate and postgraduate studies and is the oldest continuously running Christian liberal arts and sciences college in Asia. ...

in Calcutta in 1936. He subsequently earned his M.A in

English Literature English literature is literature written in the English language from the English-speaking world. The English language has developed over more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian d ...

1938 from the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

.Tribute to Saroj Dutta
/ref>

Career

Dutta joined the ''Amrit Bazar Patrika'' in early 1940s, after completing his studies, however he was fired in 1949 for joining violent activities as a member of the

Communist Party of India The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...

. In 1962, after the

Sino-Indian War The Sino–Indian War, also known as the China–India War or the Indo–China War, was an armed conflict between China and India that took place from October to November 1962. It was a military escalation of the Sino–Indian border dispu ...

he was briefly arrested for having pro-China (

Maoist Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...

) sympathies. In 1964 he joined the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...

, CPI(M), and was an editor of their paper, ''Swadhinata'', along with Sushital Ray Chowdhary. He was among the many radicals who were disillusioned when the CPI(M) decided to join electoral politics in the run-up to the 1967 elections. Attracted to a more radical form of revolutionary

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

, he along with Sushital Ray Chowdhury and some other Calcutta intellectuals, supported the

Charu Majumdar Charu Majumdar (15 May 1918 – 28 July 1972) was an Indian communist leader, and founder and General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). Born into a progressive landlord family in Siliguri in 1918, he became a Commun ...

-led Naxalbari uprising in May 1967. In April 1969, he was also one of the founder members of

Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) (CPI(ML)) was an Indian communist party formed by the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR) at a congress in Calcutta in 1969. The foundation of the party wa ...

, CPI (ML), an organisation which was outlawed a year later for conducting armed

guerrilla warfare Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrori ...

targeted at the landlords and the police.

Death

Police Arrested Dutta from his friend Debiprasad Chattapadhyaya's home on the night of August 4–5, 1971. It is stated that he was killed by the

Kolkata Police The Kolkata Police () (formerly "Calcutta Police"), is the Law enforcement in India, territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and crime prevention within the Kolkata metropolitan region, metropolitan area of the city of Kolkata, ...

on the Aryan Club ground in the

Kolkata Maidan Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

that very morning. It is also said that the movie star Uttam Kumar witnessed the shooting while on a morning walk, but talked about it much later when drunk; this is the storyline of the 1994 Bengali-language movie ''

Sopan Sant Sopandeo was a sant of the Varkari and also the younger brother of Dnyaneshwar. Sopan(19 November 1277 A.D- 29 December 1296 A.D), attained samadhi at Saswad near Pune. He wrote a book, the ''Sopandevi'' based on the Marathi translation ...

''. Bengali writer Dibyendu Palit also portrayed the incident in his novel ''Sahajoddha''. In 1977, after the CPI(M) returned to power with a Left-front majority, many Naxalite sympathisers signed on a petition seeking an investigation of Saroj Dutta's death. The petition was given to the chief minister

Jyoti Basu Jyoti Basu (born Jyotirindra Basu; 8 July 1914 – 17 January 2010) was an Indian Marxist theorist, communist activist, and politician. He was one of the most prominent leaders of Communist movement in India. He served as the 6th and longest ...

. However, no investigation has ever been held. His comrade, Charu Majumdar died in police custody a year later.

Film

A feature-length documentary film, ''S.D. :Saroj Dutta and His Times'', directed by Kasturi Basu and Mitali Biswas in 2018, featured Dutta's journey as a poet, journalist, translator, ideologue and revolutionary. The film contains the only on-camera interviews of two eyewitnesses - Debiprasad Chattopadhyay and Manjusha Chattopadhyay - of Saroj Dutta's abduction and disappearance by the Kolkata Police.

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dutta, Saroj Indian communists Maoist theorists 1914 births 1971 deaths Bengali Hindus Bengali-language writers 20th-century Bengali poets Indian male poets Indian poets Indian male journalists Indian Marxist writers Indian Marxist journalists 20th-century Indian poets 20th-century Indian male writers 20th-century Indian journalists Naxalites Indian newspaper editors People from Jessore District Extrajudicial killings in India People shot dead by law enforcement officers in India Scottish Church College alumni University of Calcutta alumni Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) politicians 20th-century Indian politicians Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from West Bengal Politicians from Kolkata Poets from West Bengal Narail Victoria College alumni Communist Party of India politicians from West Bengal