COMMUNIST LEADERS IN KALIMPONG
SANDIP C. JAIN
In 1949, the Communist party was banned by the Central government and hence, as a result all leaders of the party were arrested. However, some of the eminent leaders of the party were able to run away from Calcutta and hide in Darjeeling in order to escape persecution. Among these leaders were Jyoti Basu, Sushil Chaterjee and Satyen Majumdar who stayed incognito at Singamari. Leaders like Nripen Chakravorthy who later became the Chief Minister of Tripura lived as a tourist at the Munda Khoti locality in Sonada. Almost thirteen years later, during the Indo-Sino War, the Communist Party once again came under the heavy hand of the central Government, as leaders and party workers were being arrested en-masse under ‘Indian Security Act’. Leaders like Ratanlal Brahmain, Anand Pathak, S. P. Lepcha, Bhadrabahadur Hamal, R. B. Khatiwada, Krishnabhakta Paudyal. Charu Majumdar, Kanu Sanyal, Soren Bose, Biren Bose, B. B. Lama, Satyen Majumdar and Rajen Sinha were all arrested from Darjeeling. One eminent leader, H. B. Rai had gone underground for 3 months; however when he came out to take a walk at Chowrasta thinking that things had setted down, he was immediately arrested. All these leaders were kept at Alipore, Presidency and Berhampore Central Jail. A total of 95 leaders from Darjeeling alone had been arrested.