Bibhuti Bhusan Das Gupta

Bibhuti Bhusan Das Gupta (15 January 1904 - 15 April 1975)[1] was an Indian freedom fighter and politician.

Early life

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Das Gupta was born in the village Sonarang in Dacca District in January 1904.[2] He was the son of Rishi Nibaran Chandra Das Gupta.[2] Das Gupta studied at Rajindra College in Faridpur.[3] He didn't finish his college education, but joined the struggle for Indian independence instead.[2]

Politics

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In 1921 he acted as village-level secretary of the Indian National Congress.[2] Between 1922 and 1948 he was a member of the Manbhum District Congress Committee and the Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee.[2] Das Gupta was a member of the All India Congress Committee between 1938 and 1948.[2]

Dasgupta was one of the Congress leaders in Manbhum that was arrest in connection with the Salt satyagrah.[4] Upon release from jail (around 1931–1932) he joined with Nibaranchandra Das Gupta to set up the Lok Sevak Sangh, a Gandhian movement working for Swaraj and social reform.[4] They challenged caste hierarchies, preaching to Adivasis and Dalits to participate in social and political life on equal terms with upper caste Hindus.[4] The organization sought to fight against discrimination against lepers.[4]

In 1938-1939 he served as Vice Chairman of Purulia municipality.[2][3] He was arrested during the Quit India movement.[5] He took part in transforming the Lok Sewak Sangh into a political party in 1948 and became its general secretary.[2]

Das Gupta was elected to the Lok Sabha (lower house of the Parliament of India) from the Purulia seat in the 1957 Indian general election .[6]

Das Gupta won the Purulia constituency seat in the 1967 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.[7] After the election Das Gupta was named Minister for Panchayats and Social Welfare in the first United Front government.[8][9]

Das Gupta retained the Purulia seat in the 1969 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.[7] He was named Minister of Panchayats in the second United Front government, formed in 1969.[7]

He served as editor of Mukti.[2] He lived at Shilpasram in Purulia.[2]

References

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  1. ^ "Samsad Bangali Charitabhidhan Vol.I in Bengali edited by Subodhchandra Sengupta & Anjali Bose, published by Sahitya Samsad, Kolkata, India, August 2016 edition Page 482 ISBN 978-81-7955-135-6
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j India Who's who. INFA Publications. 1973. p. 284.
  3. ^ a b Lok Sabha. Second Lok Sabha Members Bioprofile Archived 20 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b c d West Bengal (India); Jatindra Chandra Sengupta (1985). West Bengal district gazetteers. Vol. 12. State editor, West Bengal District Gazetteers. pp. 104–105.
  5. ^ Sajal Basu; Indian Institute of Advanced Study (1992). Regional movements: politics of language, ethnicity-identity. Indian Institute of Advanced Study. p. 113.
  6. ^ Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTIONS, 1957 TO THE SECOND LOK SABHA - VOLUME I (NATIONAL AND STATE ABSTRACTS & DETAILED RESULTS)
  7. ^ a b c Communist Party of India (Marxist). West Bengal State Committee. Election results of West Bengal: statistics & analysis, 1952-1991. The Committee. pp. 379, 440.
  8. ^ Asian Recorder. Vol. 13. 1967. p. 7634.
  9. ^ Subhash C. Kashyap (1974). The politics of power: defections and state politics in India. National Pub. House. p. 509.