Manikuntala Sen

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Manikuntala Sen (Bengali: মণিকুন্তলা সেন; c. 1911–1987) was one of the first women to be active in the Communist Party of India. She is best known for her Bengali-language memoir Shediner Kotha (published in English as In Search of Freedom: An Unfinished Journey),^[1] in which she describes her experiences as a woman activist during some of the most turbulent times in India's history.

Early life

Manikuntala Sen was born in

. Initially sceptical, Sen became more and more influenced by their ideas, even more so when she saw Shantisudha Ghosh taken in for questioning and harassed by the police. Sen persuaded her family to allow her to go to Calcutta to complete her studies and, she secretly hoped, to make contact with the Communist Party.

Studenthood in Calcutta

At that time Hindu

was then underground, and after much searching she eventually discovered that its headquarters were in fact in Barishal.

Early experiences as a communist

Sen's parents were initially ambivalent about her involvement with the party, as it was then regarded as a dangerous group of rebels wanted by the authorities, but shortly after she became a communist in 1939, Sen took her mother to a meeting addressed by Biswanath Mukherjee, brother of Ajoy Mukherjee. His impassioned speech converted her mother to the cause and for a few days she could talk of nothing else. Sen took the opportunity to ask that she be allowed to travel (alone in the company of young male activists) to another meeting. Reluctantly she was given permission. Living on a nominal party stipend, from 1942 Sen began to travel the country, staying in small villages and addressing the people. She describes how the men would shun her because she was a woman, and the women, in purdah, stayed away because she was a 'leader' and the equivalent of a man. Much patience and tact were required to overcome this barrier.

World War II and after

The year 1943 saw a devastating

.

War with China

The war with China in 1962 brought to a head the various disagreements in the Communist Party of India, and led to a split, with the Indian government conducting a short-lived crackdown on those who continued to support China. Kaul and Sen were unable to bear the thought of choosing between the CPI and CPI(M). Kaul resigned, and though Sen stayed within the party she withdrew from active participation. The couple moved to Delhi but returned within a few years to Calcutta, where Sen died on 11 September 1987.

Sources

Manikuntala Sen, In Search of Freedom: An Unfinished Journey, (Calcutta: Stree, 2001). Translated from the Bengali by Stree. Original Bengali title Shediner Katha (Calcutta: Nabapatra Prakashan, 1982).

References

Further reading

• Das Gupta, Uma (2003). "Book Reviews: Manikuntala Sen, In Search of Freedom: An Unfinished Journey (Translated from the Bengali)". Indian Journal of Gender Studies. 10 (1): 179–182.
  S2CID 220720100
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• Ghosh, Sutanuka (19 July 2010). "Expressing the Self in Bengali Women's Autobiographies in the Twentieth Century". South Asia Research. 30 (2): 105–123.
  S2CID 19756923
  .
• ISBN 978-0-19-514890-9
  .