Pramod Ranjan Sengupta (1907 - 1974) was a Marxist intellectual and Bengali revolutionary, attached with of

Indian National Army The Indian National Army (INA; ''Azad Hind Fauj'' ; 'Free Indian Army') was a Collaboration with the Axis powers, collaborationist armed force formed by Indian collaborators and Imperial Japan on 1 September 1942 in Southeast Asia during Worl ...

led by Netaji

Subhas Chandra Bose Subhas Chandra Bose ( ; 23 January 1897 – 18 August 1945 * * * * * * * * *) was an Indian nationalist whose defiance of British authority in India made him a hero among Indians, but his wartime alliances with Nazi Germany and Imperi ...

Early life

Sengupta was born in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

Dumka Dumka ( Santali: ᱫᱩᱢᱠᱟᱹ), the headquarters of the Dumka district and Santhal Pargana region, is a city in the state of Jharkhand, India. It was made the headquarters of the Santhal Pargana region, which was carved out of the B ...

, presently in the state of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in 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 and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . ...

. His father Harshanath Sengupta was a reputed doctor of Dumka. In 1925 while studying in Krishnagar Government College, at Krishnanagar, Nadia he came in contact with

Hemanta Kumar Sarkar Hemanta Kumar Sarkar ( bn, হেমন্তকুমার সরকার) (1897 — 3 November 1952) was an Indian philologist, author, biographer, editor, publisher, union leader, leader of the Indian freedom movement and an associate of Su ...

Anantahari Mitra Anantahari Mitra (1906 – September 28, 1926) was a Bengali Indian independence movement activist. Early life Anantahari, the son of Ramlal Mitra, was born in Begampur village, Chuadanga District in British India. He received a student scho ...

, Mahadev Sarkar and gravitated towards revolutionary politics.

Revolutionary activities

Sengupta was arrested for his connection with

Dakshineswar Dakshineswar is a locality in the North 24 Parganas under the jurisdiction of Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority and is very close to Kolkata. This place is historically famous for Dakshineswar Kali Temple, locally known as Maa Bhabata ...

Bomb Case and was interned in Shibchar village of Faridpur District, presently in Bangladesh. During this period he completed graduation. After his release in 1927, he went to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

for higher studies. While studying in

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 mill ...

, he joined India League and the London Dock workers' trade union. Sengupta went to

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

in 1928 at the invitation of Saumyendranath Tagore who introduced him to the members of the Berlin Committee. While returning to England, French police arrested him with a revolver. After release, he met international communist Leaders like Rajani Palme Dutt, Shapurji Saklatvala and

Harry Pollitt Harry Pollitt (22 November 1890 – 27 June 1960) was a British communist who served as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) from 1929 to September 1939 and again from 1941 until his death in 1960. Pollitt spen ...

. In 1934-35 he participated in the communist group of studies along with other Indian students in London which latter formed the antiimperialist Progressive Writers Association. Sengupta also worked as a reporter for Hindustan Standard in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. In 1938 he submitted the thesis paper regarding the 'Agro related development in India' and got the Ph.D degree. He went to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

to join the

International Brigades The International Brigades ( es, Brigadas Internacionales) were military units set up by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War. The organization existed ...

against the Nationalist forces. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Sengupta joined in

formed by Subhas chandra Bose in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

and he became its Program Director. He also edited the ''Ajad hind'' magazine for a short while. After the war he was arrested in 1945 by the British military Mission and was imprisoned for 10 months. In 1946, Sengupta returned to

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

, joined

Left-wing politics Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in ...

and was again imprisoned in 1950 in the Presidency jail in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

. After release, he joined in Communist Party of India.

Other movements

Sengupta was active in International Peace Movement, Progressive Writers' Movement, ''Bharatiya Gananatya Sangha'', Democratic Rights and Civil Society Movement after the commencement of

The Emergency (India) The Emergency in India was a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had a state of emergency declared across the country. Officially issued by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed under Article 352 of the Constitution be ...

. He was the President of All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR) at the time of Naxalbari uprising. Pramod Ranjan Sengupta, popularly known as Pramod Sengupta, was a founder member of Bengal's civil liberty organization Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), and elected as its first general secretary in 1972.

Literary works

Sengupta was a Marxist intellectual and socio political essayist and. A number of his articles were published in various magazines. He wrote the following books: * ''Bhartiya Mahabidroha'' * ''Nilbidroho o Tatkalin Bangali Samaj'' * ''Kalantarer Pathik Romain Rolland'' * ''Naxalbari and Indian Revolution''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sengupta, Pramod Ranjan 1907 births 1974 deaths Indian revolutionaries Indian communists Indian Marxists Indian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of British India Communist Party of India politicians from West Bengal Indian National Army personnel Foreign volunteers in the Spanish Civil War Bengali writers Krishnagar Government College alumni