Suranjit Sengupta (5 May 1945 – 5 February 2017) was a

Bangladesh Awami League The Awami League, officially known as Bangladesh Awami League, is a major List of political parties in Bangladesh, political party in Bangladesh. The oldest existing political party in the country, the party played the leading role in achievin ...

politician. He resigned in 2012 as the first Railway Minister of Bangladesh. He was the member of parliament from Sunamganj-2 constituency in the

Jatiya Sangsad The Jatiya Sangsad (), often simply referred to as Sangsad and also known as is the unicameral Legislature, legislative body of Bangladesh. The current parliament of Bangladesh contains 350 seats, including 50 seats reserved exclusively for w ...

and a member of the party's advisory council. He was the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on the Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs Ministry.

Early life and education

Sengupta was born to a

Bengali Hindu Bengali Hindus () are adherents of Hinduism who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. They make up the majority in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Assam's Barak Valley ...

family in Derai Upazila, Sunamganj District, to Devendra Nath Sengupta and Sumati Bala Sengupta. Among four brothers and a sister, he was the youngest. He completed his bachelor's and master's degrees at the

University of Dhaka The University of Dhaka (), also known as Dhaka University (DU), is a public university, public research university located in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Established in 1921, it is the oldest active university in the country. The University of Dhaka w ...

. He earned his LLB at the Central Law College and practised law for a while.

Career

Sengupta started his career as a lawyer. He became a member of Supreme Court Bar Council. He started his political career with leftist parties. In 1970's National Election of Pakistan, he was elected from the Sylhet District as a candidate of the National Awami Party in the Provincial Assembly. He participated 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 ...

in 1971 as a sub-commander of the Sector-5. In the

Constituent Assembly of Bangladesh The Constituent Assembly of Bangladesh was the first and, to date, the only constitution-making body of in the country. It was convened in 1972 by the government of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman following Bangladesh's independence. It comprised representa ...

, he was a vocal member of the opposition bench. In the 1973 Bangladeshi general election he stood as a nominee of the National Awami Party faction led by Muzaffar Ahmed (NAP (M)). In 1979, he represented the '' Ekota Party'' in the House and in 1991, the ''Ganatantri Party''. He joined

party in 1996, but lost the national election that year. But he made it to parliament through a by-election. He represented Sunamganj-2 constituency in the next three parliaments. On 24 February 1996, prior to the controversial elections that month,

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

raided his house along with those of Amir Hossain Amu and Mohammad Abdur Razzaque under the Special Powers Act, but were unable to locate him. In November 2011, Sengupta was made a cabinet member of the newly formed Railways Ministry. But after a bribery scandal became known, leaders from both the Bangladesh Workers Party and the Awami League called for him to resign. He served as a minister without a portfolio. He was not selected for a cabinet position after the 2014 election.

Railway bribery scandal

Sengupta took over as Railways Minister and resigned after 5 months on an allegation of bribery. He was accused of direct involvement in corruption of 100 million Taka. On 9 April 2012 his assistant personal secretary, general manager of the eastern region, and commandant of security were driving to Sengupta's residence with 7.4 million Taka of bribe money, when the driver Azam Khan turned them in. On 17 April 2012, Sengupta was appointed minister without portfolio one day after submitting his resignation as Railways Minister and after being accused of bribery.

''Amar Desh'' allegations of corruption

On 31 March 2013, the newspaper '' Amar Desh'' published a report stating that Sengupta demanded a thirty million taka bribe from an orphanage project, and cancelled the project's funding when his demand was refused. Sengupta commented on the report, saying, "The matter of asking for a three

crore Crore (; abbreviated cr) denotes the quantity ten million (107) and is equal to 100 lakh in the Indian numbering system. In many international contexts, the decimal quantity is formatted as 10,000,000, but when used in the context of the India ...

bribe is a complete lie. There are 36–37 education institutions in my area. But the huge funding of this project created a negative impression with the local institutions. So I suggested distributing the fund equally to the existing institutions in order to eliminate the negativity created." In April 2013, Sengupta brought a defamation case against the ''Amar Desh'' staff, including Mahmudur Rahman and an NGO official for the publishing of this report.

Personal life and death

Sengupta was married to Joya Sengupta. Together they had one son, Showmon Sengupta. Sengupta died on 5 February 2017 at LabAid hospital in

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

References

External links

US is Concerned About Human Rights & Rise of Religious Extremism in Bangladesh: Suranjit
– Voice of America {{DEFAULTSORT:Sengupta, Suranjit 1945 births 2017 deaths People from Derai Upazila Politicians from Sylhet Division University of Dhaka alumni Awami League politicians 8th Jatiya Sangsad members Ministers of railways of Bangladesh Ministers without portfolio of Bangladesh Bangladeshi Hindus 2nd Jatiya Sangsad members 9th Jatiya Sangsad members Members of the Constituent Assembly of Bangladesh