Mohit Sen
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Mohit Sen (born 24 March 1929, in
Early life and education
Sen was born into a progressive and westernised
In communist movement
While in
Political life
Mohit Sen arrived in India during a period when India had won her independence. The appraisal of the CPI at that time was that the country had not really got freedom, but was still a 'semi-colony' of Britain. The following words of Jawaharlal Nehru, who was then prime minister, to visiting Soviet leaders Nikolai Bulganin and Nikita Khrushchev in 1955, aptly summarises the CPI's position then:
Until this year (1955) the Communist Party was saying that Indian people were not independent; they even opposed our National Day celebrations.... They also said that when they were in doubt about the right line of action, they had to get directions from the Soviet Union. Early in 1951–52, some principal leaders of the Communist Party went to Moscow secretly, that is without passports. They came back and said that they had got directions from Mr. Joseph Stalin. At least this is what they said. The line then laid down was one of full opposition (to the Government) and, where possible, petty insurrections.[3]
Mohit Sen stood for collaboration with
Writer
Sen was a prolific writer; credited to him are following books:
- Revolution in India — Problems and Perspectives
- Glimpses of the History of the Communist movement in India
- Maoism and Chinese Revolution
- Congress and socialism
- Naxalites and the Communists, and
- A Traveller And The Road: A Journey Of An Indian Communist.
A Traveller and the Road: A Journey of an Indian Communist
He published his autobiography A Traveller and the Road: A Journey of an Indian Communist in March 2003, few months before his death. The book brought out Sen's evolution as an independent leftist thinker. Eric Hobsbawm, the historian, had opined about the book that
- "… it is a most remarkable book, written with unremitting passion and love, with acute observation of those who gave their lives to the case, but with sceptical judgment. In my view no more illuminating first-hand book on the history of Indian Communism has been written, nor is likely to be written… India was lucky to enter independence with people as honest, as selfless, and as devoted to service of the people as he."[6]
See also
Notes
- ^ Ali, Muhammad Ansar (2012). "Sinha, Lord Satyendra Prasanna". In Islam, Sirajul; Jamal, Ahmed A. (eds.). Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh (Second ed.). Asiatic Society of Bangladesh.
- ^ The CPI constitution stipulates that a member be admitted first as a candidate, and thereafter depending on whether his or her performance is satisfactory, full membership is given.
- ^ Jawaharlal Nehru, Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Second Series, Volume XXXI, edited by H.Y. Sharada Prasad and A.K. Damodaran, A Project of Jawaharlal Nehru Fund, distributed by Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
- ^ "Prof (Smt) Vanaja Iyengar –Founder AMSSOI". Bispindia. 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
- ^ "A man called Mohit Sen". The Hindu. 18 May 2003. Archived from the original on 17 November 2003. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
- ^ "Anand Kishore Sahay, in his review of Mohit Sen: An Autobiography". Archived from the original on 17 November 2008. Retrieved 21 September 2007.
External links
- Satchidanda Mohany: A Man called Mohit Sen An obituary in The Hindu, Chennai.
- Kanwalpreet: The memoirs of a Communist A review of A Traveller and the Road: The Journey of an Indian Communist appearing in The Sunday Tribune, Chandigarh
- Blog on Mohit Sen