20150805
127th Birthday of Comrade Muzaffar Ahmad
127th Birthday of Comrade Muzaffar Ahmad, One of the pioneer of communist movement in India, was celebrated Wednesday (5th August) by several programmes in Kolkata and in every district of West Bengal. Some pictures of the central programmes:
20140806
Muzaffar Ahmed Memorial Prize awarded to late Prof. Amalendu Dey
KOLKATA,
5th August, 2014: Muzaffar Ahmed Memorial Prize for the year
2014 was conferred posthumously to the legendary historian Prof. Amalendu Dey. Considering
all aspects, Muzaffar Ahmed Smriti Puraskar
Committee this year has selected the Book “Sirajer Putra O Bangsadharder Sandhane”(In
search of Siraj’s son and his Descendants) for the Award, which is written by Prof.
Amalendu Dey in Bengali. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, President of the Muzaffar
Ahmed Smriti
Puraskar
Committee, declared the name of the awardee at a function held at PDG Bhavan
Hall Tuesday.
Mridul De
gave a brief introduction of the book at the function. He said, Battle of
Palashi (1757)
is
an important & critical phenomenon in the history of Bengal, as well as
India. There are so many missing links between differently scattered incidents.
A good number of information is yet to be discovered. In the Battle of Palashi,
Siraj-Ud-Daulah lost. But after that what happened to his family? Where Siraj’s
family members had gone? How come son of then Mymensingha’s king resembles
Siraj’s son? Why the main lieutenant of Siraj, Mohanlal disappeared after the
battle? Most of us may haveforgotten this patriot but on the other hand
legendary historian and researcher like AmalenduDey was curious on them. Prof.
Dey had gone through a painstaking search on the facts and mysteries and
unfolded the missing links before us.
Prof. Dey,
at his last phase of life, had highlighted the history of contribution of Siraj’s
son and his descendants in this small book of only 35 pages. It is learn from this book that some of
Siraj’s descendants are not disappeared yet! Even, some of them had sacrificed
their life in the Freedom Movement as well as in the Communist Movements too.
Descendants of this family had broken the religious barriers, and it is their
inherited spontaneous character.
Contributions
of Mohanlal, the most trusted lieutenant of Siraj-Ud-Daulah has also been
highlighted in this book, which is important information. Prof. Dey has not
only discovered may unfolded missing links, but also open the doors to the
researchers a wide spectrum for further researches.
CPI(M)
Polit Bureau Member & Leader of the opposition in West Bengal Assembly Dr.
Surjya Kanta Mishra read the Citation at the function. Late Prof. Amalendu
Dey’s son Amit Dey and daughter Tapti Dey received the Prize from Buddhadeb
Bhattacharjee.
20130808
Narrative of a Life and a Movement
BOOK REVIEW: AN EARLY COMMUNIST: MUZAFFAR AHMAD IN CALCUTTA 1913-1929
By Suchetana Chattopadhyay
By Suchetana Chattopadhyay
Tulika Books, New
Delhi, 2011, pp., Rs.600.00
VOLUME XXXVI NUMBER 5 MAY 2012
Suchetana Chattopadhyay's book is three things wrapped in one
cover. It is a narrative of the life of Muzaffar Ahmad, the founding figure of
the Communist Party of India at the Bengal front. But it is not a biography of
this leading Indian Communist. This book is rather about a few early years of
Muzaffar Ahmad's life, a period from 1913 to 1929 to be exact, bound by the two
years signifying Ahmad's entry into the city of Calcutta in his early youth, on
the one hand, and his emergence as one of the central figures of Indian
Communism in relation to the Meerut Conspiracy case and the foundation of the
Communist movement in Bengal, on the other.
By centring round the life of an early Communist the author also
explores the early phase of Communist politics in the region. The author,
however, focuses on the city of Calcutta. This reveals the third aspect of this
academic venture, i.e., comprehending the spatial perspective of the early Communist
movement in Bengal. The author reads the early response of the City of
Calcutta, which had been the prime mover of colonial politics and anticolonial
activities in the eastern front, to the incoming ideas of socialism to evolve
out of it an alternative mode of decolonization as well as a wider struggle for
human emancipation. Ahmad's initiation into socialism and his own contribution
to the emergence of a new brand of politics out of it have been understood in
this geographical setting. The author thus addresses a crucial question related
to Indian Communism regarding its roots in and relevance to the Indian
necessities.
Through a cityscape she shows the significance of socialism for
moulding a sensitive youth with an awakening political mind. The story begins
with a study of Muzaffar Ahmad's native village in a remote island called
Sandwip at Noakhali in present-day Bangladesh. Although long distanced from the
urban facilities of the colonial set-up as well as the burning zeal of the
nationalist protest against colonial exploitation, this island was fully
exposed and subordinated to colonial capital. This brunt of colonialism,
according to the author, did not automatically add a political dimension to the
social identity of the peripheral and marginalized rural people.
Nevertheless, as a logical consequence of colonial rule there
was continuous outflow particularly of young people from the rural hinterland
to the central hub of colonial rule in search of ...
SEE MORE:
20130806
Buddha blames govt for Hills stir
TNN | Aug 6, 2013, 03.53 AM IST
KOLKATA: Breaking his silence
over the ongoing Darjeeling turmoil, former chief minister Buddhadeb
Bhattacharjee on Monday blamed the Mamata Banerjee government for it.
Bhattacharjee said the seeds of unrest were sown when the state government
hurriedly signed the tri-partite GTA agreement.
The Centre's decision to carve out Telengana may
have acted as a catalyst, but if not now, this would have led to unrest later,
the CPM leader said.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee - and Trinamool
Congress leadership - have been consistently pinning their blame on the Centre
for present Darjeeling unrest.
"We had opposed the GTA agreement
for this very reason," Bhattacharjee said while speaking on the 125th birth
anniversary of Muzaffar Ahmed at Mahajati Sadan on Monday. He-along with
other CPM top leaders-spoke on the 125th birth anniversary of Muzzafar Ahmed
at Mahajati Sadan.
Taking a dig at the pre-poll tie-up between the
Trinamool and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) before the assembly polls, the
former CM said there was a point the Trinamool had gained from such anarchist
forces and now the people of Bengal are paying its price. The former CM was
taking a dig at the pre-poll tie-up between Trinamool and Gorkha Janamukti
Morcha in the run-up to 2011 assembly polls.
Accusing the state government for failing to
maintain peace in Darjeeling, opposition leader in the assembly, Surjya Kanta
Mishra, said, "The chief minister may have strained ties with Congress,
but she should be in touch with the UPA government to keep life normal in
Darjeeling hills which has been crippled by an indefinite bandh on the
Gorkhaland demand."
Mishra said that the chief minister should have
patience and the keep doors open for talks with the Morcha 'before things go
out of control'.
"We neither back the statehood demand nor
support the indefinite bandh. What we want is normal life in Darjeeling
hills," he said. Alleging that the 'seeds of unrest' was embedded in the tripartite
treaty with the GJM, he said
"This state government had indirectly
supported Gorkhaland demand by inserting the name in the GTA."
"You indirectly supported the GJM demand
for Gorkhaland and GTA has given recognition to it,"
Mishra urged Mamata Banerjee to call an
all-party meeting to discuss the Darjeeling issue.
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