Comrade Arun Kumar Roy (15 June 1935 – 21 July 2019) was an Indian politician, who served both as a Member of Parliament and a

Member of Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several national ...

. He was born in a small village in

Rajshahi district Rajshahi District () is a district in mid-western Bangladesh. It is a part of Rajshahi Division. The metropolitan city of Rajshahi is in Rajshahi District. Geography Rajshahi District is bounded by Naogaon District to the north, Natore Distric ...

of the then

East Bengal East Bengal (; ''Purbô Bangla/Purbôbongo'') was the eastern province of the Dominion of Pakistan, which covered the territory of modern-day Bangladesh. It consisted of the eastern portion of the Bengal region, and existed from 1947 until 195 ...

, during the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

to anti-British activist parents. Roy, a former member of the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...

, entered politics after being dismissed from his job as chemical engineer in a company for supporting a workers' strike in 1966–1967. Later in his political career, Roy founded the

Marxist Co-ordination Committee The Marxist Co-ordination Committee (MCC) was a political party in Jharkhand, India, based around the coal mining region of Dhanbad. The Party operated from 1971 to 2024. Marxist Co-ordination Committee since its inception was closely associate ...

, a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

based in the coal mining region of

Dhanbad Dhanbad is the second-most populated city in the Indian state of Jharkhand after Jamshedpur and a major financial hub of Jharkhand. In terms of economy, Dhanbad has the largest economy in the state of Jharkhand and it is often referred to as th ...

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

Early life

Arun Kumar Roy was born in Sapura village of

of the then

to Shibesh Chandra Roy and Renuka Roy. His father was an advocate by profession who had his legal practice in Rajshahi Court, but later shifted to Dinajpur in 1960 and started practising in Raiganj Court. His father died in 1967 in the court premises after suffering a blackout. Roy's parents were both anti-British activists also had served time in prison for participation in freedom movement. Roy completed his primary education from a local school at Naogaon, Rajshahi in 1951 and later went to Belur Ramakrishna Mission School, from where he completed his secondary education. He graduated in Science from Surendranath College,

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

, and later gained a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in 1959 in

Chemical Engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

from the

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

. Roy started his vocation in an industrial house of Kolkata. After serving there for two years he joined as Research Engineer, and worked under a scientist Dr Kshitish Ranjan Chakraborty in the newly established Projects and Development India Limited at Sindri,

Career

Roy served three terms as a Member of Parliament from

Personal life

Roy never got married and resided alone in Nunudih village in Dhanbad, in the care of local people over there who respected him. Ranguni was another village, that was close to his heart. During his peak days, Madhu Sudan Dutta from Ranguni worked closely with him to drive development in Ranguni. He died on 21 July 2019 at a hospital in Dhanbad, at age 84.

List of publications (in Hindi)

* ''Azadi ki ladai ab majdoor varg ko hi ladni hai'' (‘Now the working class must engage in the war for freedom’) * ''Nai Janakranti'' (‘New People’s Revolution’) * ''Manmohan Singh ke Bharat me Bhagat Singh ki khoj'' (‘In Search of Bhagat Singh in Manmohan Singh’s India’) * ''Dharma aur Rajniti'' (‘Religion and politics’) * ''Sampradayikata, Kshetriyata, Algavvad ki samasya par ek Marxvadi Vivechan'' (‘A Marxist analysis of problems of communalism, regionalism, and separatism’) * ''New Dalit Revolution: A draft for debate''

References

External links

A.K. Roy
at the Parliament of India, Lok Sabha * Some writings of A. K. Roy at https://sites.google.com/site/writingsofakroy/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Roy, A. K. 1920s births 2019 deaths India MPs 1977–1979 India MPs 1980–1984 University of Calcutta alumni India MPs 1989–1991 Lok Sabha members from Jharkhand Indian communists People from Rajshahi District Politicians from Rajshahi Division Indian chemical engineers 20th-century Indian engineers Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from West Bengal Marxist Co-ordination Committee politicians