Mohit Sen - Revision history

ConnorQkw1159: rework intro as per guidelines and improved wording

2026-03-24T08:59:02Z

rework intro as per guidelines and improved wording

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:29, 24 March 2026
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	[[File:Mohit Sen.JPG\|thumb\|Mohit Sen]]		[[File:Mohit Sen.JPG\|thumb\|Mohit Sen]]
	{{Indcom}}		{{Indcom}}
	'''Mohit Sen''' (born on 24 March 1929, in [[Calcutta]], and died in [[Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh\|Hyderabad]] on 3 May 2003) was a communist intellectual. He was general secretary of the [[United Communist Party of India]] at the time of his death.		'''Mohit Sen''' (born 24 March 1929, in [[Calcutta]], and died in [[Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh\|Hyderabad]] on 3 May 2003) was a communist intellectual. He was general secretary of the [[United Communist Party of India]] at the time of his death.

	==Early life and education==		==Early life and education==
	Sen was born into a progressive and westernised [[Brahmo Samaj]] family. His father, [[Justice]] Amarendra Nath Sen, was a judge of the [[Calcutta High Court]] and his mother, [[Mrinalini Sen]] (née Sinha), was an eminent dancer. His paternal grandfather was an Advocate General of Burma. His maternal grandfather was Major [[N.P. Sinha]], a member of the [[Indian Medical Service]] and his mother's elder uncle was Lord [[Satyendra Prasanno Sinha]],<ref name="banglapedia">{{cite book \|last=Ali \|first=Muhammad Ansar \|year=2012 \|chapter=Sinha, Lord Satyendra Prasanna \|chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Sinha,_Lord_Satyendra_Prasanna \|editor1-last=Islam \|editor1-first=Sirajul \|editor1-link=Sirajul Islam \|editor2-last=Jamal \|editor2-first=Ahmed A. \|title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh \|edition=Second \|publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}</ref> the first Indian Governor of [[Bihar]]. On his mother's side he came from the ''[[zamindari]]'' family of [[Raipur]] in [[Birbhum]], a district in present-day [[West Bengal]]. He had five other brothers, the eldest of whom was Sh. Pratap Chandra Sen, a student of history at [[Presidency University, Kolkata\|Presidency College]], Calcutta, who rose to a high position in a mercantile firm in Calcutta in spite of remaining a closet communist. Mohit Sen had his early education at the [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he was a student of Professor [[Susobhan Sarkar]]. Later he studied at the [[University of Cambridge]], UK.		Sen was born into a progressive and westernised [[Brahmo Samaj]] family. His father, [[Justice (title)\|Justice]] Amarendra Nath Sen, was a judge of the [[Calcutta High Court]] and his mother, [[Mrinalini Sen]] (née Sinha), was an eminent dancer. His paternal grandfather was an Advocate General of Burma. His maternal grandfather was Major [[N.P. Sinha]], a member of the [[Indian Medical Service]] and his mother's elder uncle was Lord [[Satyendra Prasanno Sinha]],<ref name="banglapedia">{{cite book \|last=Ali \|first=Muhammad Ansar \|year=2012 \|chapter=Sinha, Lord Satyendra Prasanna \|chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Sinha,_Lord_Satyendra_Prasanna \|editor1-last=Islam \|editor1-first=Sirajul \|editor1-link=Sirajul Islam \|editor2-last=Jamal \|editor2-first=Ahmed A. \|title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh \|edition=Second \|publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}</ref> the first Indian Governor of [[Bihar]]. On his mother's side he came from the ''[[zamindari]]'' family of [[Raipur]] in [[Birbhum]], a district in present-day [[West Bengal]]. He had five other brothers, the eldest of whom was Sh. Pratap Chandra Sen, a student of history at [[Presidency University, Kolkata\|Presidency College]], Calcutta, who rose to a high position in a mercantile firm in Calcutta in spite of remaining a closet communist. Mohit Sen had his early education at the [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he was a student of Professor [[Susobhan Sarkar]]. Later he studied at the [[University of Cambridge]], UK.

	==In communist movement==		==In communist movement==
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	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:		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:
	<blockquote>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.<ref>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.</ref></blockquote>		<blockquote>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.<ref>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.</ref></blockquote>
	Mohit Sen stood for collaboration with [[Indian National Congress\|Congress]] for fighting against [[imperialist]] forces. When the CPI split, and gave rise to a new party, the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)~~\|Communist Party of India~~]], Sen remained with the original CPI, under chairmanship of [[S.A. Dange]], which was following nationalist line. He became a national council member of CPI in 1966 and was elected to party central executive committee in 1971.		Mohit Sen stood for collaboration with [[Indian National Congress\|Congress]] for fighting against [[imperialist]] forces. When the CPI split, and gave rise to a new party, the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]], Sen remained with the original CPI, under chairmanship of [[S.A. Dange]], which was following nationalist line. He became a national council member of CPI in 1966 and was elected to party central executive committee in 1971.
	Sen parted ways with the CPI, following its anti-Congress stand, in 1978, following [[Indira Gandhi]]'s emergency and subsequent failure in the election.		Sen parted ways with the CPI, following its anti-Congress stand, in 1978, following [[Indira Gandhi]]'s emergency and subsequent failure in the election.
	~~In 1985, Sen joined~~ the ~~[[Indian Communist Party (Sen)\|Indian Communist Party]] and when it merged with the [[All India Communist Party]] in 1988 to become~~ [[United Communist Party of India]], Sen became its general secretary, a post he held for 15 years till his death. He was married to Vanaja Iyengar, a mathematician, [[Padma Shri]] awardee and founder vice chancellor of [[Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam]]<ref name="Prof (Smt) Vanaja Iyengar –Founder AMSSOI">{{cite web \| url=http://bispindia.com/content/vanaja-iyengar \| title=Prof (Smt) Vanaja Iyengar –Founder AMSSOI \| publisher=Bispindia \| date=2015 \| access-date=August 21, 2015}}</ref> and at the time of his death, Sen, 74, was a widower and had no children.<ref name="A man called Mohit Sen">{{cite web \| url=http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mag/2003/05/18/stories/2003051800530600.htm \| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031117144418/http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mag/2003/05/18/stories/2003051800530600.htm \| url-status=dead \| archive-date=17 November 2003 \| title=A man called Mohit Sen \| date=18 May 2003 \| work=[[The Hindu]] \| access-date=August 20, 2015}}</ref>		After the [[United Communist Party of India]] was formed, Sen became its general secretary, a post he held for 15 years till his death. He was married to Vanaja Iyengar, a mathematician, [[Padma Shri]] awardee and founder vice chancellor of [[Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam]]<ref name="Prof (Smt) Vanaja Iyengar –Founder AMSSOI">{{cite web \| url=http://bispindia.com/content/vanaja-iyengar \| title=Prof (Smt) Vanaja Iyengar –Founder AMSSOI \| publisher=Bispindia \| date=2015 \| access-date=August 21, 2015}}</ref> and at the time of his death, Sen, 74, was a widower and had no children.<ref name="A man called Mohit Sen">{{cite web \| url=http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mag/2003/05/18/stories/2003051800530600.htm \| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031117144418/http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mag/2003/05/18/stories/2003051800530600.htm \| url-status=dead \| archive-date=17 November 2003 \| title=A man called Mohit Sen \| date=18 May 2003 \| work=[[The Hindu]] \| access-date=August 20, 2015}}</ref>

	== Writer==		== Writer==
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	:"… 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."<ref>{{Cite web \|url=http://www.indiaclub.com/shop/SearchResults.asp?ProdStock=22656 \|title=Anand Kishore Sahay, in his review of ''Mohit Sen: An Autobiography'' \|access-date=21 September 2007 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081117050907/http://www.indiaclub.com/shop/SearchResults.asp?prodstock=22656 \|archive-date=17 November 2008 \|url-status=dead }}</ref>		:"… 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."<ref>{{Cite web \|url=http://www.indiaclub.com/shop/SearchResults.asp?ProdStock=22656 \|title=Anand Kishore Sahay, in his review of ''Mohit Sen: An Autobiography'' \|access-date=21 September 2007 \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081117050907/http://www.indiaclub.com/shop/SearchResults.asp?prodstock=22656 \|archive-date=17 November 2008 \|url-status=dead }}</ref>
	{{-}}		{{Clear}}

	~~==See also==~~
	*[[Indian Communist Party (Sen)]]

	==Notes==		==Notes==
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	==External links==		==External links==
	#[https://web.archive.org/web/20030704231544/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2003/05/18/stories/2003051800530600.htm Satchidanda Mohany: ''A Man called Mohit Sen] An obituary in The Hindu, Chennai.		#[https://web.archive.org/web/20030704231544/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2003/05/18/stories/2003051800530600.htm Satchidanda Mohany: ''A Man called Mohit Sen''.] An obituary in The Hindu, Chennai.
	#[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030706/spectrum/book5.htm 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		#[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030706/spectrum/book5.htm 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
	#[http://mohitsen.blogspot.com Blog on Mohit Sen]		#[http://mohitsen.blogspot.com Blog on Mohit Sen]
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	[[Category:Politicians from Kolkata]]		[[Category:Politicians from Kolkata]]
	[[Category:Communist Party of India politicians from West Bengal]]		[[Category:Communist Party of India politicians from West Bengal]]
	[[Category:~~Bengali~~ politicians]]		[[Category:United Communist Party of India politicians]]
	[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]		[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]

imported>Ebbedlila: short description

2021-08-13T15:18:46Z

short description

New page

{{Short description|Indian politician}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
[[File:Mohit Sen.JPG|thumb|Mohit Sen]]
{{Indcom}}
'''Mohit Sen''' (born on 24 March 1929, in [[Calcutta]], and died in [[Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh|Hyderabad]] on 3 May 2003) was a communist intellectual. He was general secretary of the [[United Communist Party of India]] at the time of his death.

==Early life and education==
Sen was born into a progressive and westernised [[Brahmo Samaj]] family. His father, [[Justice]] Amarendra Nath Sen, was a judge of the [[Calcutta High Court]] and his mother, [[Mrinalini Sen]] (née Sinha), was an eminent dancer. His paternal grandfather was an Advocate General of Burma. His maternal grandfather was Major [[N.P. Sinha]], a member of the [[Indian Medical Service]] and his mother's elder uncle was Lord [[Satyendra Prasanno Sinha]],<ref name="banglapedia">{{cite book |last=Ali |first=Muhammad Ansar |year=2012 |chapter=Sinha, Lord Satyendra Prasanna |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Sinha,_Lord_Satyendra_Prasanna |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}</ref> the first Indian Governor of [[Bihar]]. On his mother's side he came from the ''[[zamindari]]'' family of [[Raipur]] in [[Birbhum]], a district in present-day [[West Bengal]]. He had five other brothers, the eldest of whom was Sh. Pratap Chandra Sen, a student of history at [[Presidency University, Kolkata|Presidency College]], Calcutta, who rose to a high position in a mercantile firm in Calcutta in spite of remaining a closet communist. Mohit Sen had his early education at the [[Presidency College, Calcutta]], where he was a student of Professor [[Susobhan Sarkar]]. Later he studied at the [[University of Cambridge]], UK.

==In communist movement==
While in [[Cambridge]], in 1948, he joined the [[Communist Party of India]] (CPI) as a 'candidate-member'.<ref>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.</ref> Also in Cambridge he met and married [[Vanaja Iyengar]], who became an eminent mathematician later, in 1950. After marriage the couple moved to the [[People's Republic of China]].
Sen went to the [[China International Communist School]] in Beijing between 1950 and 1953. After his return to India, Mohit Sen worked in the CPI central office in New Delhi and also for its publishing house during 1953–62. Later he became party organiser and teacher in [[Andhra Pradesh]].

==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:
<blockquote>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.<ref>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.</ref></blockquote>
Mohit Sen stood for collaboration with [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] for fighting against [[imperialist]] forces. When the CPI split, and gave rise to a new party, the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)|Communist Party of India]], Sen remained with the original CPI, under chairmanship of [[S.A. Dange]], which was following nationalist line. He became a national council member of CPI in 1966 and was elected to party central executive committee in 1971.
Sen parted ways with the CPI, following its anti-Congress stand, in 1978, following [[Indira Gandhi]]'s emergency and subsequent failure in the election.
In 1985, Sen joined the [[Indian Communist Party (Sen)|Indian Communist Party]] and when it merged with the [[All India Communist Party]] in 1988 to become [[United Communist Party of India]], Sen became its general secretary, a post he held for 15 years till his death. He was married to Vanaja Iyengar, a mathematician, [[Padma Shri]] awardee and founder vice chancellor of [[Sri Padmavati Mahila Visvavidyalayam]]<ref name="Prof (Smt) Vanaja Iyengar –Founder AMSSOI">{{cite web | url=http://bispindia.com/content/vanaja-iyengar | title=Prof (Smt) Vanaja Iyengar –Founder AMSSOI | publisher=Bispindia | date=2015 | access-date=August 21, 2015}}</ref> and at the time of his death, Sen, 74, was a widower and had no children.<ref name="A man called Mohit Sen">{{cite web | url=http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mag/2003/05/18/stories/2003051800530600.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031117144418/http://www.thehindu.com/thehindu/mag/2003/05/18/stories/2003051800530600.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=17 November 2003 | title=A man called Mohit Sen | date=18 May 2003 | work=[[The Hindu]] | access-date=August 20, 2015}}</ref>

== 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''.
[[Image:Mohit sen.jpg|thumb|165px|left|Mohit Sen appearing on the cover of his autobiography]]

===''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."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.indiaclub.com/shop/SearchResults.asp?ProdStock=22656 |title=Anand Kishore Sahay, in his review of ''Mohit Sen: An Autobiography'' |access-date=21 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081117050907/http://www.indiaclub.com/shop/SearchResults.asp?prodstock=22656 |archive-date=17 November 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
{{-}}

==See also==
*[[Indian Communist Party (Sen)]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
#[https://web.archive.org/web/20030704231544/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/mag/2003/05/18/stories/2003051800530600.htm Satchidanda Mohany: ''A Man called Mohit Sen] An obituary in The Hindu, Chennai.
#[http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030706/spectrum/book5.htm 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
#[http://mohitsen.blogspot.com Blog on Mohit Sen]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sen, Mohit}}
[[Category:1929 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:Presidency University, Kolkata alumni]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Brahmos]]
[[Category:Politicians from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Communist Party of India politicians from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Bengali politicians]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]