Barun Roy, born Prasun Kanti Ray, (10 November 1922 – 8 December 2009) was a politician of the Communist Party of Bangladesh. He was born in Sunamganj District and was the member of Parliament from Sunamganj-1.

Early life

Roy was born on 10 November 1922 in Beheli in Jamalganj Upazila of

Sunamganj District Sunamganj District (), is a district located in north-eastern Bangladesh in Sylhet Division. History In the ancient period, Sunamganj was part of the Laur Kingdom. After the conquest of Sylhet (Kingdom of Gauiurh) in 1303 by Muslims under the sp ...

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 ...

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 ...

. He was born into a Zamindar family and his father was a member of the Assam Provincial Assembly. He graduated from Mogra High School in 1942. He completed his I.A. exams from Sunamganj College in 1947. He enrolled in Sylhet M. C. College in 1948 in a B.A. program. As a student he was involved with communist politics on campus.

Career

Roy was arrested in 1949 for his involvement in the Language Movement in

East Pakistan East Pakistan was the eastern province of Pakistan between 1955 and 1971, restructured and renamed from the province of East Bengal and covering the territory of the modern country of Bangladesh. Its land borders were with India and Burma, wit ...

and was imprisoned for five years. In prison he met famous communist politicians,

Moni Singh Moni Singh (); 28 June 1901 – 31 December 1990) was a preeminent Bangladeshi communist politician popularly known as ''Comrade Moni Singh''. He was the founder of the Communist Party of East Pakistan. Singh operated a guerrilla wing of the Mukti ...

, Robi Dham, etc. In 1950 he was elected to the Sunamganj District Communist Party. In 1954 he was elected to the Provincial Assembly as a

United Front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political and/ ...

candidate. Following the proclamation of martial law by President Ayub Khan, he was arrested again in 1958 and was kept in jail till 1963. He was elected to the post of General Secretary of the Communist Party in Sunamganj in 1966. Roy was elected to the central committee of the Krishak Samiti and the Communist Party in 1968. During this period he remained in hiding from the police and helped organize protests against President Ayub Khan. He campaigned for the Communist Party candidate in the 1970 Pakistan general election. Following the start of the Bangladesh Liberation war in 1971, he moved to India and trained as a member of the Mukti Bahini. He helped organize training in the

Mukti Bahini The Mukti Bahini, initially called the Mukti Fauj, also known as the Bangladesh Forces, was a big tent armed guerrilla resistance movement consisting of the Bangladeshi military personnel, paramilitary personnel and civilians during the Ba ...

Balat camp in

Meghalaya Meghalaya (; "the abode of clouds") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeast India. Its capital is Shillong. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the Assam: the United Khasi Hills an ...

, India. He helped organize guerrilla forces composed of left wing political supporters to fight the Pakistan Army in the

Bangladesh Liberation war The Bangladesh Liberation War (, ), also known as the Bangladesh War of Independence, was an War, armed conflict sparked by the rise of the Bengali nationalism, Bengali nationalist and self-determination movement in East Pakistan, which res ...

. Roy returned to Bangladesh on 17 December 1971 after Bangladesh was liberated on 16 December. He worked to organize the Communist Party throughout Bangladesh. He contested the 1973 Parliamentary election. He was involved with organizing union activities, helped organize the fishermen in marshlands in Bhasanpani' and 'Jal Zar Jala Tar' and organized landless peasants in the 'Langal Zar Jami Tar' movement. In 1980, he was arrested for trying to organize a union for bank employees. He was elected to Parliament in 1986 as a candidate of

Communist Party of Bangladesh The Communist Party of Bangladesh (, abbreviated: CPB) is a communist and Marxist–Leninist political party in Bangladesh. History After the partitioning of India in 1947, during the 2nd Congress of the Communist Party of India in Calcu ...

. He was arrested for protesting against the military government and in 1990 retired from politics. He worked with the Moni Singh-Farhad Memorial Trust after retirement.

Death

Roy died 8 December 2009 in Hasonnagar, Sunamganj District,

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roy, Barun 1922 births 2009 deaths People from Jamalganj Upazila Mukti Bahini personnel Bangladeshi communists 3rd Jatiya Sangsad members Communist Party of Bangladesh politicians