Sengupta, Suranjit
Sengupta, Suranjit (1945-2017) prominent politician, lawyer, former minister, distinguished Freedom Fighter, noted parliamentarian and constitutional expert. He was born on 5 May 1947 at Anowarpur village under Dirai upazila in present Sunamganj district. His father’s name was Debendranath Sengupta and his mother was Sumita Bala. He was the youngest amongst 4 brothers and 1 sister. He obtained BA (Honours) and MA degrees in History from Dhaka University and LL.B degree from Central Law College, Dhaka.
Suranjit Sengupta’s professional life began through joining Bar as a lawyer. He was one of the distinguished lawyers of Bangladesh Supreme Court. However, his foremost familiarity was as a front-ranking politician as well as an astute parliamentarian. From his student life he was actively involved in left politics. Indeed his political career started through joining the left-oriented Chhatra Union. In national politics, he was associated with pro-Moscow National Awami Party (NAP) playing leadership role at the central level. Leaving NAP, he founded, first, Ekata Party, next, Ganotantri Party. In 1996, he joined the bangladesh awami league.
During the Pakistan period, he was the lone candidate elected from NAP (Muzaffar) to the East Pakistan Provincial Assembly in the 1970 elections. In independent Bangladesh, he was elected to the Jatiya Sangsad [parliament] for 7 times (1979, 1986, 1991, 1996 in by-election, 2001, 2008 and 2014). It must be mentioned that he was the lone member from opposition on the 34-member Constitution framing sub-committee constituted by Bangabandhu’s government under the chairmanship of Kamal Hossain. He played a significant role in the making of 1972 Constitution. He kept the parliament vibrant and lively by dint of his wits, sense of humour while speaking about serious constitutional matters or dealing with hostile opposition. In the Seventh parliament (1996-2001), he was made parliamentary affairs advisor to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. He was the Co-Chair of the parliamentary committee constituted to make recommendations regarding the Fifteenth Amendment in 1911, which was vitally important in view of several Constitutional matters that it involved. He served as Minister for Railways during 2011-2012 in Sheikh Hasina’s government. Before that, he was the Chairman of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Standing Committee. He was a member of Awami League’s Presidium (2002-2008) and Advisory committee (2009-2017).
Suranjit Sengupta was a valiant Freedom Fighter. During War of Liberation, he acted as a Sub-sector Commander in the Sylhet region under Major Shawkat Ali, who was Commander of Sector 5.
Suranjit Sengupta passed away on 5 February 2017 at the age of 72 with which the life of an illustrious son and a noted politician came to an end. He is survived by his wife Joya Sengupta and their only son, Soumen Sengupta. [Harun-or-Rashid]
