Nripen Chakraborty

Agartala, Jan. 2: The Tripura unit of the CPM is busy singing paeans to the man they had expelled nine years before his death and preparing to celebrate his birth centenary this year.

Chief minister Manik Sarkar, party secretary Bijan Dhar and octogenarian secretariat member Baidyanath Mazumder yesterday unveiled the centenary celebrations of former chief minister Nripen Chakraborty in a massive rally at Khowai, describing the late leader as “the tallest to adorn politics in Tripura”.

The yearlong programmes would include cultural shows and discussions on the leader.

Chakraborty (1910-2004) arrived in this state in August 1950 after being banished from “the heart of communist epicentre” in Calcutta.

He almost single-handedly built up the formidable base of the party in the hilly areas in association with legendary tribal leader Dasharath Deb and on his own in the Bengali-dominated areas.

His tireless work laid the foundation for Marxist political ascendance in Tripura, leading to the Left Front’s maiden advent in state power in 1978 with 56 legislators in the 60-member Assembly. He was the natural choice as chief minister and despite occasional admonition in party documents for “authoritarian and individualistic tendencies,” Chakraborty brought about a sea change in Tripura’s politics and development, strengthening the party’s base.

However, the shock electoral defeat suffered by the Left Front in the Assembly polls of 1988 proved the veteran leader’s undoing as the politburo foisted Dasharath Deb as party secretary and leader of the Opposition.

Chakraborty’s disciples in the party passed two successive resolutions to include him in the ministry, but the politburo, allegedly at veteran leader Jyoti Basu’s behest, shot down both.

A brief stint as vice-chairman of state planning board for Chakraborty also proved a bed of thorns and he withdrew into a shell. Chakraborty was expelled from the party on April 13, 1995 in spite of the groundswell of sympathy for him in the party. The party rank and file, however, retained its regard for the dying man and it was the fear of a backlash that prompted the CPM politburo to readmit Chakraborty into the party fold only 24 hours before his death in a Calcutta hospital on December 25, 2004.

It took the CPM five more years to realise that Chakraborty deserved to be accorded his rightful position in the party and the decision to celebrate his birth centenary was taken last month.