Indrajit Gupta dies, Parliament loses its conscience

Indrajit Gupta dies, Parliament loses its conscience
Express News Service

Kolkata, February 20: Indrajit Gupta, veteran Communist leader and parliamentarian and former union home minister died of cancer at his Kolkata residence at 4.30 am today. He was 82, and is survived by his wife Suraiya, a son and three daughters.

Gupta was born on March 18, 1919 to Satish Chandra Gupta, the then secretary of the council of states, and Priyabala. He graduated from St Stephen's College in Delhi and went on to study law at Cambridge. On his return to India in 1942, he signed up with the Communist Party of India (CPI).

Gupta's political career spanned a little over six decades. He stayed on with the CPI even after it split in 1964, and rose to become the party's general secretary in 1990 for six years. Gupta was also Union Home minister in the governments of H.D. Deve Gowda and I.K. Gujaral. But perhaps, he was most distinguished by his long run in Parliament -- he was elected to the Lok Sabha 11 times.

Gupta's first electoral victory was in 1960, from the Calcutta South-West constituency in a by-election. He was re-elected twice each from Calcutta South-West, Alipore and Basirhat. Later, he moved to Midnapore, from where he was elected five times.

Gupta also served as president of several trade union organisations: he was general secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress for ten years from 1980. He had been vice-president of the World Federation of Trade Unions since 1982. Gupta had even written two books -- Capital and Labour in the Jute Industry and Self-reliance in National Defence.

In his tribute -- which was the first to reach the state party office -- President K.R. Narayanan lauded Gupta as ``a brilliant parliamentarian and a true leader of the people.'' ``He earned the affection and respect of all people... cutting across the political parties and ideologies,'' read the message said.

Both houses of Parliament were adjourned as a mark of respect. Gupta will be cremated on Thursday.