Indrajit Gupta

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Indrajit Gupta
File:Indrajit Gupta portrait.jpg
Minister of Home Affairs
In office
29 June 1996 – 19 March 1998
Prime MinisterH. D. Deve Gowda
I. K. Gujral
Preceded byH. D. Deve Gowda
Succeeded byL. K. Advani
President of World Federation of Trade Unions[1]
In office
1989–1999
Preceded bySándor Gáspár
Succeeded byIbrahim Zakaria
General Secretary of the Communist Party of India
In office
1990–1996
Preceded byChandra Rajeswara Rao
Succeeded byArdhendu Bhushan Bardhan
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
In office
20 October 1989 – 20 February 2001
Preceded byNarayan Choubey
Succeeded byPrabodh Panda
ConstituencyMidnapore, West Bengal
In office
1980–1989
Preceded byAlhaj M.A.Hannan
Succeeded byManoranjan Sur
ConstituencyBasirhat, West Bengal
In office
1967–1977
Preceded byNew Seat
Succeeded bySomnath Chatterjee
ConstituencyAlipore, West Bengal
In office
1960–1967
Preceded byBiren Roy
Succeeded byGanesh Ghosh
ConstituencyCalcutta South West
Personal details
Born(1919-03-18)18 March 1919
Calcutta, Bengal Presidency, British India
Died20 February 2001(2001-02-20) (aged 81)
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
PartyCommunist Party of India
SpouseSuraiya

Indrajit Gupta (18 March 1919 – 20 February 2001) was an Indian politician who belonged to the Communist Party of India (CPI). From 1996 to 1998, he served as Union Home Minister in the United Front governments of prime ministers H. D. Deve Gowda and I. K. Gujral.[2] That was a dramatic reversal of roles, as the home ministry had, since independence in 1947, banned the CPI thrice, with many of its members, including Gupta, being sent to prison or pushed underground for long stretches.[3] Until he was surpassed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2006, he was the longest-serving member of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament [note 1], having been elected eleven times. He suffered his only electoral reverse when he lost to Ashok Krishna Dutt in 1977 after the CPI supported Emergency.[4][5]

Early life

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Gupta belonged to a Baidya family of Calcutta. His paternal grandfather, Behari Lal Gupta, ICS, was the Dewan of Baroda and his elder brother, Ranajit Gupta, ICS, was Chief Secretary of West Bengal. His father, Satish Chandra Gupta (c. 1877–7 September 1964), who belonged to the IA&AS was an Accountant General of India and retired as Secretary of the Central Legislative Assembly in 1933.[6] After his schooling at Ballygunge Govt. High School, he went to Simla, where his father was posted, Gupta studied at St. Stephen's College, Delhi and later went to King's College, Cambridge.[7] While studying in England he came under the influence of Rajani Palme Dutt and joined the communist movement.[8] With a Tripos from the University of Cambridge[7] he returned to Calcutta in 1938 to join the peasants' and workers' movement.[8] He not only had to go to jail for his communist activities but was also sentenced to 'party jail' in 1948 for adopting a soft stand within the party.[8] He went underground in India during 1948–50 when there was a crackdown on Communists.[3]

Parliamentarian

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Gupta was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament of India, for the first time in 1960, in a by-election. Thereafter, except for a short period from 1977 to 1980, he was a member till his death. In later years, as a result of his being the oldest member of the Lok Sabha he served as pro tem Speaker in 1996, 1998 and 1999. The office of pro tem Speaker is a ceremonial one mainly to conduct the swearing in of the newly elected members.[3][9][10]

Gupta served on a number of parliamentary committees with distinction. He was chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on defence during 1995–1996 and was chairman of the committee on subordinate legislation from 1999 till his death. He was a member of the rules committee during 1990–1991, general purposes committee during 1985–1989 and from 1998 onwards; committee on defence from 1998–2000, committee on petitions during 1986–1987, business advisory committee from 1986–1987 and in 1989, library committee during 1990–1991 and the committee to review Lok Sabha Secretariat rules in 1990.[9]

Gupta was conferred with the ‘Outstanding Parliamentarian’ Award in 1992.[9] He served the Lok Sabha for 37 years till his death on 20 February 2001, and when he died President K.R. Narayanan paid a tribute, using three characteristics in his condolence message that suitably describes the man: "Gandhian simplicity, democratic outlook and deep commitment to values."[3]

Works

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Capital and Labour in the Jute Industry and Self Reliance in National Defence[3]

Elections Contested

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Lok Sabha

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Year Constituency Party Votes % Opponent Opponent Party Opponent Votes % Result Margin %
1999 Medinipur CPI 446,545 48.60 Manoranjan Dutta BJP 385,772 45.30 Won 60,773 3.30
1998 452,671 53.50 177,512 20.60 Won 275,159 32.90
1996 488,569 56.30 Debaprasad Roy INC 277,920 32.00 Won 210,649 24.30
1991 396,281 54.82 Birendra Bijoy Malladev 232,758 31.70 Won 163,523 23.12
1989 428,260 57.15 Gouri Choubey 295,940 39.49 Won 132,320 17.66
1984 Basirhat 315,444 51.90 Kamal Basu 276,401 45.48 Won 39,043 6.42
1980 311,121 57.62 Abdul Gaffar Quazi INC(I) 215,267 39.86 Won 95,854 17.76
1977 Dum Dum 193,986 45.97 Asoke Krishna Dutt JP 215,766 51.13 Lost -21,780 -5.16
1971 Alipore 173,795 49.00 Kamal Sarkar CPI(M) 146,837 41.40 Won 26,958 7.60
1967 121,694 32.41 P. Sarkar INC 121,107 32.25 Won 587 0.16
1962 Calcutta South West 143,918 50.06 Ismail Ibrahim 132,928 46.24 Won 10,990 3.82
1960 Calcutta South West
(By-election) 		71,548 52.87 A. K. Dutt 58,235 43.03 Won 13,313 9.84

Notes

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  1. ^ Gupta was elected a record 11 times to the Lok Sabha, and was in office at his death in 2001. Vajpayee was elected to 10 terms in the Lok Sabha, also serving in the Rajya Sabha for two terms. P. M. Sayeed is the Lok Sabha MP with the longest uninterrupted tenure (36 years, 10 months and 21 days.)

References

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  8. ^ a b c Bose, Anjali, Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan (Biographical dictionary), Appendix of Vol II, 2005, p. 9, (in Bengali), Sansad
  9. ^ a b c Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
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