Two Heroes of 1970-80’s-A K Roy and Shankar Guha Niyogi

Shankar Guha Niyogi by his selfless and dedicated work among Dalli Rajhara workers in 70’s with formation of popular organisation-Chhatisgarh Mukti Morcha and A K Roy in Dhanbad area of Jharkhand area created history. AK Roy won Lok Sabha elections three times and lives in penury today in a workers house. Shankar Guha Niyogi was murdered brutally by Mine owners gangs. In context of all hyped talk of Aam Aadmi Party’s commonness and its commitment, it would be interesting to see the lives of these two selfless and dedicated heroes, who gave all their life to the interests of workers. Sharing here the profile of Niyogi by PUDR Delhi and of A K Roy with a news from Ajit Roy’s book -The History of Dhanbad-

 

Shankar Guha Niyogi
and the
Chattisgarh Peoples Movement
On 3 June 1977, barely three months after the emergency was lifted, the struggle of
Dalli-Rajhara miners and the name of Shankar Guha Niyogi became known to the world
outside Chattisgarh. The previous night Niyogi had been arrested provoking thousands of workers
to demonstrate at the police station and practically lay siege to it. Police opened fire, killing twelve
people including a woman. That particular incident of firing was the first of its kind under the
new Janata regime that had come to power in March at the center. It was described as the “second
dawn of independence”. And the workers of Dalli-Rajhara were amongst the first to make
everyone realize that the second dawn was going to be no different from the first.
Earlier in February-March while the emergency was still formally on, workers had come
out and struck work spontaneously. Subsequently an organized union called Chattisgarh
Mines Shramik Sangh (CMSS) came into existence under the leadership of Niyogi. Two days
before the firing incident, 10,000 workers held a rally. They were demanding bonus, fallback
wages (for the period of enforced idleness at work sites) and pre-monsoon allowance for
repair of their huts. The iron-ore mines in Dalli-Rajhara are captive units of the Bhilai
Steel Plant (BSP) which assigns them to contractors. Following the rally, described as the largest
rally by far in the region, Niyogi was arrested on the night 2-3 June, 1977
under Section 151 Cr.P.C. (“Arrest to prevent the Commission of a Cognisable Offense” ). Later
the sessions judge held his detention illegal, and he was released after 35 days of detention in
Balod and Durg jails. It was not the first time that he had been in jail during his long lifetime of
struggle. Nor as it to be the last.
Shankar Guha Niyogi was born in Asansol on 14 February, 1943. Most of his
childhood was spent in the forests of Upper Assam. He had his schooling in Calcutta, and later
in Jalpaiguri. It was here that he became attracted to left politics in the late fifties. For a while he
was also the Joint Secretary of the local unit of All India Students’ Federation of India, the
student wing of the then undivided Communist Party. Later, in the early sixties, he shifted to
Bhilai, then a budding township in the heart of Chattisgarh region, his adopted homeland. While
working in the Bhilai Steel Plant as a skilled worker he acquired B.Sc. and AMIE degrees. By
1964-65, he had become a union organizer, and was Secretary of the Blast Furnace Action
Committee. He and his union played a maior role in the anti-communal front subsequent to the
Baria riots. His innovative methods and abilities, while endearing him to the workers,
alienated him from the union leaders. By 1967, the “year of the spring thunder” he had
become attracted to revolutionary politics, He became associated with the Co-ordination
Committee of the Communist Revolutionaries, the precursor of the Communist Party of India
(Marxist-Leninist). Soon he lost his job. Then he edited and published a Hindi journal
Sfulling. Around this time he was arrested, probably for the first time. Subsequently he
became more closely associated with the CP1 (ML), and went underground. In this period he
worked in the central forest region on the border of Maharashtra and Bastar. Sometime in the seventies he left the organisation and was on his own. For over five to six years his nomadic
existence took him to many occupations and struggles, a l l within the Chattisgarh region.
Forest work in north Bastar, catching and selling fish in Durg district, agriultural labour in Keri
Jungata, shepherding goat in interior Rajnandgaon, were some of the occupations he was
involved in. Everywhere he was involved in local struggles. The struggle of adivasis in Bastar,
agitation against Mongra reservoir in Rajnandgaon, and the Daihand people’s struggle for water
were some of the struggles from which he learnt his early lessons in mass organization.
Eventually he settled at Dhanitola working in the quartzite mines, where his long interaction
with mining and miners began. During the emergency he was detained under Maintenance of
Internal Security Act (M1SA), and was in prison for thirteen months. Subsequent to his release
he shifted to Dalli-Rajhara where CMSS was born in 1977.
The Union became the most popular union in the iron-ore mines within two months.
Hundreds and thousands of miners joined the union although it was not accorded recognition.
The May 31 rally and gheraos were its major show of strength. The rally sent shock waves
among recognised union leaders, contractors, and the public sector bureaucrats, the
triumvirate that rule most of the mining areas in our country. The combine reacted in
panic, and got Niyogi arrested. But it only strengthened the workers’ resolve to struggle.
Within a fortnight of the firing, even before Niyogi was released, the management signed an
agreement with the still unrecognised union. Both bonus and pre-monsoon allowance were
conceded, to be shared equally by the contractors and the Steel Plant. After his release the union
was recognised, and it spread from the iron-ore mines of Dalli-Rajhara to the limestone mines in
Danitola and Nandini, and the dolomite mines in Hirri.
The first major organised action of the CMSS was the indefinite strike in September
1977 demanding increase in wage rate and improved living conditions. The daily wage, on the
days on which one got work, was around Rs. 4. The unloading charges for handling ore used to
be a meagre 27 paise per tonne. On some days the workers were forced to work almost sixteen
continuous hours a day. Much of their wage and service conditions were so poor because of
the fact that most of the 8,000 miners were contract labour. In the next phase of the struggle
the union took up the issue of contract labour. A steady movement was built up for abolition of
contract labour and departmentalisation of the existing work force. Throughout this phase the
union faced the wrath of the powerful mining and labour contractors. As the organised efforts of
theunion became strong, labour co-operatives of the workers gradually replaced the
contractors. That was when the BSP managed to step in to crush the union through
mechanisation. Since about the early eighties the union began its long drawn out struggle
against mechanisation. The first strike on the issue took place in May 1980. As thus far the
latest in Mav 1989.
Meanwhile the Central Industrial Security Force (C1SF) was posted at the mines,
presumably to protect the mines from its own miners. In September 1980 hundreds of workers
gheraoed the CISF personnel in protest against a jawan’s attempt to rape a fourteen-year-old
adivasi girl. Once again tiring took place in which one person was killed and thirty-eight
injured. Niyogi and other leaders were arrested. Following widespread protest the government ordered a judicial enquiry. But it must be added that no meaningful action was taken on the
recommendations of Justice M.A. Rajjak enquiry commission appointed over the 1977 firing
incident. The fate of the second committee seems to be no different.
As the agitation against mechanisation intensified initially in January 1981
Niyogi, Sahdev Sahu and Janaklai Thakur were served externment orders which were struck
down by the courts. A fortnight later, on February 11, Guha, Niyogi, and Sahu were invited for
talks by the District Collector, Durg. When they reached the office they were detained
under the National Security Act (NSA). Workers went on strike. Two months later they were
released by a judicial review committee. Finally the Steel Plant management climbed down
and entered into an agreement with the union in the presence of the Chief Labour
Commissioner. Partial departmentalisation was agreed upon, and the threat of mechanisation
was held in abeyance.
Meanwhile CMSS evolved an innovative plan for semi mechanisation that would have
increased production and productivity without resorting to retrenchment. This alternative, in the
context of an underdeveloped economy like ours, attracted widespread attention. In November
1983 Niyogi along with a number of fellow activists and workers attended a convention in Delhi
on “Mines, Mechanisation and People”. The meeting, an attempt to initiate a debate between
academics and union activists from different parts of the country was sponsored by the People’s
Union for Democratic Rights. Eventually, faced with the workers resistance and the
credibility gained by their alternative proposal, the Steel Plant management did not pursue its
plans. Much later in 1989 the management made another attempt. This time a number of
workers, especially women were surreptitiously getting retrenched. The workers went on strike
for three weeks in May forcing the authorities to retreat once again.
A regulated militancy apart, one of the inner strengths of the Dalli-Rajhra miners
movement has been the involvement of women. In the manual mines of Dalli-Rajhara where
CMSS had its original base, women constitute almost half the workforce. This is because the
nature of the work makes it convenient to work in pairs (husband and wife teams are common). This
is in sharp contrast with mechanised mines where skill and educational requirements have
debarred women as they have debarred local Chattisgarhi people. Right from inception women
played a significant role in the struggle. Among those killed in the 1977 firing was Anasuya Bai
the popular folksinger of the union. From the first executive itself, the CMSS had women in its
committee which is rare in Indian Trade Union movement. The active involvement of women
has practically eliminated the sexual violation of women by contractors and their henchmen, once
the scourge of Dalli-Rajhara mines. The nature and extent of participation of women enabled the
movement to grow from the work-site to the homes and houses of workers. One of the first issues
to emerge from this was alcoholism.
In the initial years all the additional increases in wages achieved by the union were being
leaked out due to widespread alcoholism among the male workers. The contractors who lost on
the wage front were able to siphon off the money through the sale of liquor. According to
official figures the consumption of alcohol in Dalli-Rajhara increased one and a half times in
1976-1982 (20,000 to 36,000 proof litres). The license fees for the thekas went in the same period from Rs 5.5 lakhs to almost Rs 1.4 million. This kind of alcoholism among the male workers also
meant the domination of a lumpen-degenerate culture in the streets and wife-beating and destitution
in the homes. Often it lead to death and destruction. In a major tragedy in the nearby
Mahasumund large number of workers died after consuming adulterated liquor in 1981. It was
against this background that the CMSS took up an anti-liquor campaign. The campaign and its
effective implementation was made possible by the participation of women workers. Initially
the movement faced the wrath of liquor contractors (who were not particularly distinguishable
from mining and labour contractors!) and their political patrons. There have been some cases
of assault on the activists in this period. But eventually the campaign enhanced the effective
income of the workers and made a visible difference to the personal and social life of the
township.
There are no such known instances of trade unions taking up a campaign against
alcoholism, except the recent campaign undertaken by Singarcni Karmika Samakhya in the
Singareni Collieries of Telengana region. Later the CMSS took up a campaign for better health and
hygiene. It established a hospital with 80 beds at the township. Known as Shahid Hospital in
memory of those killed in the 1977 firing, the hospital today stands as a monument to the effort of
the peoples’ struggle in an otherwise ostensibly welfare state. CMSS also established six schools. It
was these experiments of the union that atrracted the attention of the liberal intelligentsia to the
miners’ movement. And they were made possible by the more basic struggle for economic and
political rights by the workers. In 1976-77 the working hours used to be almost 16 hours at a
stretch. Today they are within the legally stipulated eight hours. In 1976-77 the average daily
wages for the piece-rate manual workers was Rs. 4 per day. Today they are Rs. 72 per day. The
process by which these achievements were made possible was also the process by which workers
were able to assert their “right to live with dignity”; that lofty non-enforceable, non-justiceable
goal of the directive principles of our benign constitution. The struggle and stability of the
miners’ movement gave birth to a larger peoples’ movement in the Chattisgarh region.
Chattisgarh is the name given to the seven eastern-most districts of Madhya Pradesh,
comprising Raipur, Bilaspur, Durg, Rajnangaon, Raigarh, Sarguja, and Bastar. Chattisgarhi, a
derivative of eastern Hindi is the common spoken language of the region, although many of the
tribal groups (who constitute 30 to 80 percent of the population in these districts) retain and
speak their own language. Geographically, a large part of the region lies in the valley of the
Mahanadi and Sheonath rivers. The outlying regions are hilly and in the east form part of the
Chotanagpur plateau (Sarguja and Raigarh) and to the south (central and south Bastar) lead on to
the Deccan plateau. The valley area grows some of the best rice in the state thus giving the name
dhantola (rice bowl) to the region. Rich mineral deposits of the region led to the establishment of
public sector giants like Steel Plant (Bhilai), Bharat Aluminium Company and Thermal Power
Corporation (Korba). But by its very nature and its requirements this kind of industrialisation led
to diverse trends; the demand for educated and skilled labour (most of whom are migrants)
and a huge demand for unorganised, casual, and contract labour, most of whom are local
adivasis. Lack of irrigation facilities and persistent drought caused those traditionally engaged
in agriculture to seek employment in urban areas. Thus they came to form part of the lower rungs of the exploitative industrial structure in the region. The CMSS gradually took up the issues of
these people both in urban and semi-urban settlements, and also in rural areas. Since most of
the workers were first generation workers who had live contact with their villages, it was easier
for the struggle to spread to the rural areas. Notable among them were she agitations
against corruption in the grain bank in Boharbhadi, the successful resistance offered to the
mahant of Kabirpanthi temple who usurped the community land in Nadia. It was through these
struggles that Chattisgarh Mukti Morcha was shaped. The morcha came to represent the aspirations
of the people of an underdeveloped sub-region. From about 1979 it also began to celebrate
Shahid Veer Narayan Diwas. Veer Narayan Singh was the leader of the first recorded
peasant struggle of this region. He was executed by the British on the 19 December, 1857.
Overtime the Mukt i Morcha became a challenge to the political elite of the region.
Chattisgarh for a long lime was part of the unchallenged fiefdom of the Shukla family in
Madhya Pradesh politics. But over the years the kind of industrialisation and development that
was pursued by the state has bred a new set of elite. Many of these are also tribals, Trade,
liquor, mining and labour contractors formed the immediate base of this new generation of
politicians. They were patronised by the then Chief Minister Arjun Singh in his factional battle
within the Congress, against the Shukla family. Jhamuklal Bedia, a patron of most of the
contractors and formerly a minister, used to be the hatchet man of Arjun Singh, This combine
was actively engaged in thwarting the union and is believed to be involved in many assaults on
the union conducted through private hoodlums or the police. The emergence of the Morcha
made t hem a ll more insecure. Many attempts were made to ignore or suppress the Veer
Narayan Divas, on 19 December, for a number of years. Then suddenly the state bestowed
recognition to him. The peasant leader became a “freedom fighter”. A great grandson was
located and granted a pension. A hastily prepared official biography was published. Veer
Narayan Singh’s village was adopted for special programmes. Even a stamp was issued in his
memory. But these crude attempts to appropriate people’s history faced the same fate as the
attempts to appropriate their wages. In the next assembly elections, in 1985, the Morcha’s
candidate won.
The unions affiliated to Chattisgarh Mukh Morcha gradually took roots in the adjoining
areas. Among the most notable was the Rajanandagaon Kapada Mazdoor Sangb (RKMS). The
textile mill at Rajanandagaon, established in 1896 was the oldest industrial unit in the
region. From Shaw Wallace managing agency of the colonial period it changed many hands to
eventually become part of the Slate owned National Textile Corporation (NTC) in 1972. The
newly established union took up the issues of parity in wages with other NTC mills and
workers participation in management. In July 1984 the workers went on indefinite strike. In a
major incident on 12 September, 1984, police opened fire on the workers in which three workers
were killed. Curfew was imposed. Large number of women participants were brutally assaulted.
At least three women were raped by policemen. A number of union activists, including Niyogi
were arrested. The strike continued altogether for over five months. Eventually in December
some sort of settlement was arrived at.
The unions affiliated to CMMS in 1989-90 began taking shape in Durg-Bhilai region. Most of the industrial units in the region are an offshoot of Bhilai Steel Plant. From
Rajnandgaon at one end to the newly developed Urla industrial complex at Raipur the belt now
has numerous units. The wage and working conditions in this belt are similiar to those that
prevailed in Dalli-Rajhara in the mid-seventies. Perhaps, even worse than those. For here the units
are relatively small, making organisation difficult and the owners are the new generation
industrialists making the opposition more intense and violent. The Morcha affiliated unions
that took root in this belt include Pragatisheel Engineering Shramik Sangh (PESS), Chattisgarh
Shramik Sangh, Chattisgarh Cement Shramik Sangh and Chattisgarh Mill Mazdoor Sangh. A
massive rally held on 2 October 1990 was the major turning point in this movement. The union
especially PESS, built up a steady demand for implementation of minimum wages, a living wage,
adequate work safely and abolition of contract labour. The movement faced intense repression and
violence both from the police and the hired hoodlums of the management. The focal point of the
struggle in the last few months has been in the units owned by Simplex group. For practically
over ten months the workers are on strike. A large number of workers were arrested under section
107 and section 151 CrPC, in blatant violation of law, in much the same way as these
sections were used against the miners in 1977 which had eventually led to the firing incident.
Finally on 4 February, 1991 Shankar Guha Nivogi himself was arrested under some old cases
pending since years. Subsequently he was released on bail.
Sometime after his release Niyogi apprehended danger to his life and on 29 April,
lodged a complaint with the police. He launched a complaint yet again on 4 July. No action was
taken on these complaints. On the contrary the administration initiated externment
proceedings against him under the MP Rajya Suraksha Adhiniyam, 1990 (S.5). The Act is
modelled on the lines of notorious coionial law The Centra! Provinces and Berar Goondas Act,
1946. It violates many fundamental principles of independent India’s constitution. A writ
challenging the proceedings against Niyogi and the constitutional validity of the act was filed
in the Jabalpur High Court. The Court issued a stay on the externment proceedings on 10
August. In the second week of September, Niyogi led a delegation of workers to Delhi where he
met among others the President of India, the Prime Minister, leaders of all major political
parties. In Bhopal he met the labour minister. After visiting Pipariya, Hoshangabad where
activists of Samata Sangathan faced massive repression recently, he returned to Durg on 18
September. Ten days later in the early hours of 28 September, he was shot dead. Some
unidentified assailants pumped six bullets through the window of his house in HUDCO
colony, Bhilai.
The government initially announced a reward for those giving clues. It entrusted the
investigation to B.B.S.Thakur, additonal S.P.Durg under the overall supervision of A.N.Sinha,
DIG. Mr.Thakur has earlier been known to have acted in a partisan manner and the union
had complained against him on a number of occassions. And Mr.Sinha’s name was
explicitly mentioned by Niyogi among those who are possibly involved in the conspiracy to
murder him. Niyogi expressed his apprehensions in a tape recorded message that was discovered
after his death.
Independently Asha Niyogi, on behalf of the union, lodged a complaint with the police naming ten people as being responsible for the murder. They include Moolchand Shah,
Naveen Shah and Hirabhai Shah (Simplex), B.R.Jain and Arvind Jain (Bhilai Engineering
Corporation), H.P.Khetawat (Bhilai Wires), Vijay Gupta and Kulbir Gupta (B .K .Engineering
Corporation), Vinay Kedia and Kailashpathi Kedia (Kedia Distlleries). Three of the Simplex
group have applied for anticipatory bail. Police have also arrested two local people who they
claim were involved in the crime without specifying who commissioned them. Central
government recently acceded to the demand for an investigation by the Central Bureau of
Investigation. Yet so far effectively no meaningful proceedings have been initiated against the
main industrialists named in the complaint. Perhaps it may not be out of place here to mention
that the BJP government has recently given an award of Rs. one lakh to the distillery owner
Kailashpathi Kedia for ‘promoting art and literature’!
As the news of Niyogi’s assassination spread, thousands of workers gathered at the
hospital in sector 9 where his body was kept. Industrial work in over 150 unit s in the region
involving over 2 lakh workers came to a standstill. On 29 December the dead body was taken
to Dalli-Rajhara where fourteen years ago, Chattisgarh Mines Shramik Sangh had taken
birth. Over one and a half lakh workers paid their homage at the funeral. Now that Niyogi
was safely dead major political figures, parties and industrialists paid tribute to him. But
sanitised and separated from the larger processes of post colonial development, the life and death
of Shankar Guha Niyogi has no meaning and significance.
The post-colonial development in backward regions like Chattisgarh essentially results
in the self-sustaining nature of underdevelopment. notwithstanding any development programme.
This process continuously throws people out of their traditional occupations. And then they
become, as casual and contract labour, the cannon fodder for the industrialisation, whether under
the aegis of the public sector or private, under planning or market. And when people began to
assert their rights, the economic and political parasites bred by this kind of development attempt
to crush it with the help of the state This all too familiar process faced resistance in Chattisgarh.
During its course the workers struggle transcended the much narrower traditional boundaries of
trade union movement. Wage and working conditions, skills and semi-mechanisation,
education health and environment have all become part of their agenda. The innovative
features of this militant mass movement are informed by alternative visions of developmental
processes. Yet it is confined to the constitutional boundaries imposed by a ruling elite against
whom it is fighting. Directive Principles of the Constitution articulated with more clarity and
forthrightness are its hallmark. Enforcement of labour legislations is the arena in which the
battles are being fought. The movement pursued peaceful methods with remarkable patience in
a political environment where violence has become the only language which the rulers can
understand. Realisation and appropriation of democratic space within the threshold of the
constitution is the essence of the Chattisgarh movement.lt is this process, spread over almost
three decades, that changed the life and living of the people of the region.
Thus a young 18 year old migrant worker of Bhilai Steel Plant, thirty years later in
that very same steel plant township, received a hero’s farewell at the sector 9 hospital on 28
September this year. A sense of identity and a resolve to live life with dignity now mark the lives of people of Chattisgarh. Shankar Guha Niyogi was a product of t his struggle who in turn also
shaped it. Arrested under preventive detention law in the seventies, under MISA during the
emergency, under NSA in the eighties, under preventive clauses of CrPC time and again, he
spent most of his time in jail without facing any formal charge leave alone t rial. Even in those
petty cases that were foisted on him, he was never convicted by any court of the land for any
offence. His real crime was political and in an extended sense philosophical. In a true sense of
the term he is “the froth on the waves” of peoples struggle. The way in which he was
assassinated and the manner in which his killers are being protected indicates the crisis point
at which the ruling elite themselves would negate the rule of law. What it portends about the
times to come is a moot point. But democratic forces must realise t hat a committment to t he
struggles of the people is the only way in which mourning for Shankar Guha Niyogi can
acquire a meaning

News on A K Roy-five months old:

Three-time MP from Jharkhand who ‘never made money’ a pauper after robbery
Pankaj Kumar , Hindustan Times Dhanbad, January 10, 2014
First Published: 19:16 IST(10/1/2014) | Last Updated: 09:06 IST(11/1/2014)

This Jharkhand politician’s austerity and simplicity will dwarf many a present-day politician, including the reigning champions of honesty and clean politics – the Aam Admi Party (AAP) leaders.

Considered a misfit in today’s political environment, Arun Kumar Roy or AK Roy as the former MP and legislator is popularly known, is a pauper whose only prized possession, a HMT watch, was robbed on Wednesday.

The watch was the only gift he ever accepted in his political career spanning six decades.

After dacoits attacked his house in Noondih village under Dhanbad’s Sudamdih police station area on Wednesday night, the former MP and legislator turned virtually bankrupt. “The robbers also took away my savings of Rs. 2,600,” Roy told HT with a grin.

But this staunch Marxist Coordination Committee (MCC) leader doesn’t regret his present condition. “They were perhaps more needy,” he said about the dacoits and did not go to the police to lodge a complaint.

The local police albeit went to him the next day after learning about the incident.

A bachelor with no dependents, Roy lives in the house of a party worker in the village and is fed by party cadre. The robbers also looted the belongings of the landlord, S Gorai, a staunch follower of Roy.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/Images/popup/2014/1/AK-Roy2.jpg
AK Roy former Dhanabd MP (in middle) flanked by his supporters. BIJAY/HT photo

Roy was a three-time MP from Jharkhand’s Dhanbad Lok Sabha constituency and represented Sindri assembly seat in the (united) Bihar assembly for an equal number of times before that.

At a time when corruption has become a national issue, Roy has set high standards of honesty and simplicity. He has even forgone his pension as an ex-parliamentarian and donated it to the President’s relief fund.

 

 

Ajit Roy profile of A K Roy:

A K Roy : the Raremost Politician of the Coalfield By AJIT ROY, in his book ‘HISTORY OF DHANBAD’

Though, in undivided Manbhum, Purulia Sadar Subdivision was where the annals of communist movements were mainly scripted, Dhanbad Subdivision is mainly the stronghold of the red trade unions in contemporary history. Communists had become unstoppable during the pre-independence days itself. The foundation of the under-construction communist organizations was laid this way only. This, however, can not be denied that if at all there is any evolving overall presence of the Marxist or leftist traditions here in this district, the subsequent chapter of this after the conclusion of the previous chapter in Purulia in the fifties, must have taken shape in Dhanbad in the mid-sixties, through the sole enterprise of the patriarchal, diligent, virtuous, fearless and dauntless leader of Marxist Coordination Committee Arun Kumar Roy alias A K Roy. Endowed with genius, highly intellectual, perpetual experimenting and evolving, thoughtful, this living legend of avant-garde mind make up, has always featured in deliberations and remained in news in the political and intellectual class with his original ideology and multifarious activities in contexts of the strife of the oppressed proletariat, of indigenous colonialism, two-nation theory, moral purification etc. Detractors and rivals feared him, hold him in high esteem and his betenoire, the mafias, have always bent down in a gesture of bowing at his feet. Arun Kumar Roy was born on the 15th of June 1935 in Sapura village of Rajshahi district of then East Bengal. His father Shibesh Chandra Roy was an advocate by profession who had started his legal practice in Rajshahi Court, but later shifted to Dinajpur in 1960 and started practising in Raiganj Court. (He died in 1967 in the court premises after suffering a blackout). Arun Babu’s mother was Renuka Roy (died in 2008). Arun Babu had been a brilliant student right from his early days. He matriculated in 1951 in the first division from the village school (Naogaon, Rajshahi) and took admission in the Belur Ram Krishna Mission School. He did his ISc from there and then graduated in Science from Surendra Nath College of Kolkata. He did his MSc (Tech) in 1959 in Chemical Engineering from Calcutta University. He started his vocation in an industrial house of Kolkata. After serving there for two years he joined as Research Engineer under the celebrated scientist Dr Kshitish Ranjan Chakraborty in 1961 in the newly established Planning & Development India Limited at Sindri of Dhanbad district. Since his early years he was an exponent of integrity and was an enthusiastic server of mankind. The home environs were also conductive. Though Sapura village fell within Rajshahi district, it was close to the border of Dinajpur. The two haats (rural markets) of Dinajpur, namely Shibpur and Shibdinghi were two hubs of political activities those days. Arun Babu’s father and uncle were anti-British activists. Even his mother and aunt also had served time in prison for participation in freedom movement. This trait of nationalism had inbred itself in Arun Babu’s persona. Arun Babu was first sentenced to jail in 1952 when he was just 15 years old for delivering an ‘inciting’ speech in support of vernacular movement at a gathering at the court premise near his house. The draconian Prevention Act of the then East Pakistan was administrated to imprison him for 2 months in Dhaka Central Jail. Bengali’s of culture world had witnessed for the first time that one can serve jail sentence even martyred for the cause of one’s mother tongue. Later as a student of the Science College also he had associated with the Vernacular Organization of the university. Nevertheless, real politic was not in Arun Babu’s scheme of things. He took his vocation as a member of the elite group of scholars counting to a dozen dedicated, honest and nationalist youngmen at the Planning & Development wing of Sindri Fertilizer Factory under the able guidance of the widely venerated superintendent Dr Kshitish Ranjan Chakraborty (later adorned with ‘Padmashree’). Nobody could foresee those days that the laconic, modest and snare short statured man would eventually turn out to be a colossal figure amongst the communists who would inshill a chill in the very heart of the notorious mafias. A few years later when a labour strike was conducted at Sindri Fertilizer Factory and the management resorted to temporary engage the P&D staff for plant operations to prevent losses, Arun Babu pineered a protest against the move. His contention was being that such a move would demoralise the workers and a grave injustice would be melted out to their lawful and justified demands. The P&D authorities were both baffled and unhappy over the issue and this was when it was thought of to sack him. However, the strike was shortlived and for the time being he escaped the sanction. The incident though pitched Roy Babu in limelight overnight. He became immensely popular among the factory workers. Even after this he raised his voice in support of the legitimate demands of the workers and also on the issue of declining standards of works on a few occasions. His stock kept on rising. With his tacit support and spurred by his ideologies the workers started to rally together. Simultaneously, driven by his ingrained empathy with the secular worldview, he had started a few study-centres in areas adjacent to Sindri and Beliapur to educate the villagers politically and socially. These pursuits Roy Babu gradually turned the P&D authorities and the local administration phobic and hostile towards him. Finally the administration was handed over the ruse to arrest him when the left-minded Socialists called for a ‘Bihar Bandh’ on 9th August 1966 in the cause of oppressed people and the Bandh getting an unforeseen success in the Sindri belt. Roy Babu was arrested the very next day as the Bandh was directed against the government and subsequently he lost his job. Riding on the wave of massive popular support Roy Babu just cast the issue of his job loss to the backburners. He joined the newly formulated CPI(M) forthwith and won the 1967 Assembly Election and 1969 midterm poll with a massive mandate from Sindri. Roy Babu was a witness to the four-year long bloodstained saga of 1967 to 1971. He had envisaged the Naxal Movement as the worthiest and most promising mass movement of the dreams of Indian middle class. Nevertheless, he did not join ranks with the Naxals, rather he wanted them as a stimulus in the proletariat revolution. He penned a stirring essay, ‘Vote and Revolution’, in the ‘Frontier’ in 1971, voicing the beneficial importance of this revolution with a view to align this tremendous force with the revolutionary principles of the CPI(M). CPI(M) leadership could not fathom the finer nuances of his subtle vista of the Naxal Movement.6 This resulted into his expulsion from CPI(M) the same year. Roy Babu already had a vast mass following. After coming out of CPI(M) he constituted ‘Janavadi Sangram Samiti’ and won the next Assembly Election again. ‘Marxist Coordination Committee’ or MCC was formed in 1972. Roy Babu’s endeavours in and around the rural and mining belts of Dhanbad was largely peaceful but he was not averse to armed struggles when needed, to organize the peasants and the serf, empowering these have nots with the owner ship of farmland and cattles and to fulfil the rightful demands of the workers. His popularity and influence kept swelling in the villages, agricultural farms, factories and mills and coalfields because of his honesty, uprightness, undying efforts, organisational skill and indominable spirit. A true leader of workers and peasants was emerging fast which roiled the collective psyche of Dusadhs, Chamars, Telis, Kurmis, Rajwars, Ghatwals, Santhals, Mundas, tribals, even the Bengalis of Hirapur. Dhanbad had never had a leader of such stature. One by one rising leaders like Binod Bihari Mahato, Anand Mahato, Shibu Soren, Nirmal Mahato, Kripa Shankar Chatterjee, Gurudas Chatterjee etc. assembled under his banner, most of whom later on left their signature amongst people as acclaimed leaders. Spectre of the huge popularity of communism and the growing stature of A K Roy haunted even Indira Gandhi into desperation. Her ‘line’ was unmistakably defined. She had directed Chief Minister Gafur in a confidential memo to imprison the rioting communists and anti-Congress elements enmesh but leave alone the tribal or Jharkhandi activists of the mining areas. A U Sharma, the then DC of Dhanbad was a personal friend of Roy Babu, he read Indira’s letter to him and alerted him that he was under constant surveillance. During Emergency Roy Babu was jailed very often and for about 6 years he was relegated into inaction. Shibu Soren also was imprisoned during the period but was released shortly. He went into an alliance with Congress. However, the alliance proved to be a red herring, neither Shibu, nor Congress could reap any benefit from it. Roy Babu won the Parliamentary Election of 1977 with a huge margin with the support of Jai Prakash Narayan and the Janata Party. He won the election of 1980 also. Uptil now Roy Babu had commanded the support of different Jharkhandi, left and Janata alliance in the electoral frays. He continually won three Assembly and two Parliamentary elections. However, he had to taste defeat for the first time in the Parliamentary elections of 1984, mainly due to his own apathy to the politics of profit monpering, the consolidation of imperialist forces against him and the isolation and alienation of some henchmen from his party. He was defeated by Shankar Dayal Singh of Congress (I). Though he won the next election in 1989 but the parliament was dissolved after two years in office. Roy Babu had already had a difference of opinion with Binod Bihari Mahato on the issue of ‘Lalkhand’. In the nineties Kripa Shankar Chatterjee left MCC and joined Congress (I). Apprehensions and incredibility about Gurudas Chatterjee had cropped up in 1995 but before a resolution could be arrived at Gurudas was murdered by the mafia on 14 April 2000 and was consigned from the political scenery of Dhanbad for ever. The undeniable fact is that Roy Babu is till date the championing pathfinder of the campaigns and crusades of the oppressed masses of Dhanbad coalfields and adjoining areas. He has played a very significant role right from the onset of Jharkhand movement. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha came in to being in 1973 with Roy Babu as it’s hidden head priest. This is the most relevant, widely acclaimed and mass based party in the political theatre of Jharkhand movement till date. Two frontiers men who emerged during the advent of the Morcha intended with Roy Babu were Binod Bihari Mahato of ‘Shibaji Samaj’ and Shibu Soren of ‘Sanat Samaj’. As per hearsay, both of them had their apprenticeship under the tutelage of Roy Babu. During his literacy drive around Sindri-Beliapur region, Roy Babu had Binod Bihari Mahato, Shibu Soren, Anand Mahato, Kripa Shankar Chatterjee et al as his cohorts and comrades. Roy Babu had envisaged a movement named ‘Lalkhand-Jharkhand’ to begin with. But instead he formed Marxist Coordination Committee after renouncing CPI(M). Mean while Shibu Soren, Binod Mahato, Nirmal Mahato etc. flared up the movement of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha. Roy Babu’s political bigotry and his aversion abdicate and fight for bilge may be analysed in future. But at present, to quote him, he is continuing through his process of traits and tribulations with this ‘experimental forum’ named Marxist Coordination Committee. But even now his party of committee is in a state of uncertainty with it’s makings and breakings, so it is totally hard to find his spirit of brilliant aestheticism and his unwavering philosophical style in most of his associates. Some of his comrades and followers, having second thoughts about his ideology and style of functioning and fearing their own survival, have left MCC and embraced other established political parties. As stated before, during Emergency Shibu Soren tied knots with Congress. Roy Babu and Binod Bihari Mahato had difference on the issue of ‘Lalkhand’. During nineties Kripa Shankar Chatterjee joined Congress after leaving MCC. Since 1995 misgivings about Gurudas Chatterjee had started brewing, but before any decision could be taken, Gurudas was murdered and was forever lost from political theatre of Dhanbad. Although, Gurudas’s son Arup Chatterjee is now with MCC and he had won the seat of Nirsa in the Jharkhand Assembly Election of 2000. At present Arup is the President of both, ‘Marxvadi Yuva Morcha’ and ‘Jharkhand Colliery Kamgar Union’. Roy Babu and his other comrades – Anand Mahato, Gurudas Chatterjee and Arup Chatterjee – had till recently been supported by various Jharkhandi, left and Janata alliance in the electoral engagements. Roy Babu himself went on winning four assembly and three parliamentary elections without a break. Still, alienation with some party stalwarts, his aversion to the polity of self gratification and the antagonism of combined forces of empirical bias resulted into his defeat in the last few elections