Born before the October Revolution in Russia — and coincidentally on the same day that the Bolshevik Revolution began four years later — and whose “life has traversed the whole path of the 20 century,” veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Samar Mukherjee turned 100 here on Wednesday.
“Here is a comrade who was born before the October Revolution, who saw the formation and development of the Soviet movement and the Socialist camp. But when the Soviet Union got dismantled in 1991, Samar Mukherjee’s faith and conviction in Marxism and socialism never wavered,” CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said at a function organised to commemorate the event.
It is only the second time in the history of the CPI(M) that the party officially celebrated the birthday of a leader. Muzaffar Ahmad, a stalwart of the Communist movement in the country, is the only other leader whose birth anniversary has been observed since 1963 (he died in 1973).
Mr. Karat and other senior leaders of the party, including Polit Bureau members Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Biman Bose and A.K. Padmanabhan, felicitated Mr. Mukherjee on the occasion. A function was organised in the lane adjacent to the commune where Mr. Mukherjee lives. “For the past 72 years Samar Mukherjee has been a soldier of the Communist party and an all-India leader of the trade union movement,” Mr. Karat said.
Sharing his memories of Mr. Mukherjee, Mr. Karat said he had met the veteran leader for the first time in 1971, when he was elected to the Lok Sabha for the first time from the Howrah Parliamentary constituency.
“He has been outstanding in his dedication, sincerity and contributing all his energies to whatever work or responsibilities were assigned to him,” Mr. Karat said.
Mr. Karat recalled that most of Mr. Mukherjee’s salary and allowances as an MP would be taken over by the party, yet he would come to the party office every year to deposit a cheque for the party fund.
“During the Emergency, when all civil liberties and democratic rights were curbed, I have seen how Samar Mukherjee worked as a leader of our party — how he took up every cause, how he took up the cases of every comrade in jail,” he said. The English and Bengali versions of a book, 100 years of Samar Mukherjee: A Tribute , were released on the occasion by Mr. Karat and Mr. Bhattacharjee.
