The demise of the erstwhile general secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan is a huge loss for the socialist and secular political stream of india. His role was especially important in the current era of the neoliberal-communal nexus. He was constantly trying to create unity among country’s progressive factions. Before the last Parliamentary elections, he made a lot of efforts in the direction of creating the front of all big or small socialist, communist and parties advocating social justice. He had a lot of discussions about this with Bhai Vaidya and Justice Rajindar Sachar, senior leaders of the Socialist Party. Dr. Prem Singh, the general secretary, Socialist Party, had suggested in one of his articles that all parties which believed in socialism/social justice should unanimously put forward A.B. Bardhan’s name as PM candidate in the last general election. Had Bardhan’s efforts been successful, then the political power at the Centre would not have been under the complete control of the neoliberal and communal forces.
Bardhan ji, who was the erstwhile general secretary and president of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), was a hardworking trade union leader. He started his political career as an activist of the All India Student Federation (AISF) during the independence struggle. He was a good thinker and wrote some imporatnt tracts on the problem of communalism.
Born in Bangladesh, Bardhan ji’s political work, before coming to Delhi in 1990, was in Maharashtra, where he had won the Maharshtra Assembly elections in 1957 and where he had fought the Parliamentary elections in 1967 and 1980. Being from Maharashtra, senior socialist leader and Socialist Party’s president Bhai Vaidya shared a long political and personal relationship with him. His demise is also a personal loss for him.
The Socialist Party pays homage to this seasoned communist leader.\
Abhijt Vaidya
General Secretary
