Roy, Barun
Roy, Barun (1922-2009) left politician. His full name is Prasun Kanti Roy. He was born on 10 November 1922 in a zamindar family of village Beheli in Jamalganj upazila of Sunamganj district. His father Karuna Sindhu Roy was a politician and a member of the Assam Provincial Assembly. Barun Roy passed Matriculation examination in 1942 from Comilla-Brahmanbaria Mogra High School and IA examination in 1947 from Sunamganj College. He got himself admitted into BA class in 1948 in Sylhet Murari Chand College.
Barun Roy was involved in politics in his student life. As an activist of the Student Federation he came in contact with the communist party and was enrolled as a member of the party in 1942. He had an active role in the nankar movement of 1947. With the beginning of the language movement in 1948 Barun Roy was a victim of police assault while attempting to organise a meeting at Govindacharan Park in Sylhet in support of the demand for Bangla as the state language. He was arrested by the government in 1949 and was kept confined for five years. While in the jail he came in contact with the noted politicians including Comrade moni singh and Robi Dham, and was elected as district representative of Communist Party in 1950.
Barun Roy though released from jail in 1953 was kept under strict surveillance. He stood in support of the demands of the peasants at his native village Beheli as against the joatdars and zamindars. He was elected a member of the Provincial Assembly in 1954 from Sunamganj constituency as a candidate of the united front. After the promulgation of Section 92A in the country Barun Roy was arrested and was kept confined. After release he went underground and secretly conducted the activities of the party.
After the promulgation of martial law by Ayub Khan in 1958, Barun Roy was arrested and suffered imprisonment till 1963. He had active role in 1964 education movement and in anti-Ayub student movement. Ayub government issued hulia against him in 1965. While underground, he was elected as general secretary of Sylhet district unit of Communist Party in 1966. In 1968, he was elected a member of the central committee of the Communist Party. Simultaneously, he was the vice president of the central committee of Krishak Samiti. During the anti-Ayub mass movement in 1969 he continued to conduct organisational activities from underground. In the 1970 general election, he secretly conducted election campaign in favour of the Communist Party candidate in Dirai Shalla area. With the beginning of the War of Liberation in 1971, Barun Roy crossed over to India and joined the war simultaneously with his responsibility of organising the freedom fighters. He had leading role in organising the United Guerrilla Force composed of the activists of the NAP, Communist Party and Student Union. He organised the training of the freedom fighters at Balat camp in Meghalaya.
After the liberation of Bangladesh, Barun Roy returned home on 17 December 1971. As a central leader of the Communist Party, Barun Roy launched organisational tour throughout the country for consolidating and augmenting the party units. He contested in the Jatiya Sangsad election in 1973. In 1975 he organised the people of haor (marsh) areas of Tahirpur, Jamalganj and Sunamganj to launch movements like 'Bhasanpani' and 'Jal Zar Jala Tar' Andolan. He also organized the landless peasants to launch 'Langal Zar Jami Tar' movement. He was arrested by the government in 1980 for his alleged involvement in organising the movement of the bank employees.
Barun Roy was elected a member of the Jatiya Sangsad in 1986 from the Sunamganj-1 constituency as a candidate of Communist Party. In 1987 he had active role in anti-government movement and consequently had to suffer imprisonment. He retired from active politics in 1990. At a later date he was connected with the Moni Singh-Farhad Memorial Trust.
He died in Sunamganj on 8 December 2009. [Urmee Hossain]
