Kalipada Sen: The Forgotten Martyr written by Bidhayak Das Purkayastha

//Bidhayak Das Purkayastha//

 

Introduction

History often remembers its victors, rarely its silenced martyrs. Among those silenced voices stands Advocate Kalipada Sen—an eminent lawyer of the Gauhati High Court, the founder president of the Citizens’ Rights Preservation Committee (CRPC) Assam, and later the founding leader of the United Minorities Front (UMF), Assam’s only political party born from the unity of linguistic and religious minorities. His assassination on 17 September 1986, in broad daylight at his official residence-cum-chamber in Guwahati, was not merely the murder of a man. It was a calculated attempt to extinguish a movement, to paralyze a community, and to erase the possibility of a united Bengali political assertion in Assam.

 

Yet, in the collective memory of the Bengali community, his name has receded into silence. His story demands to be retold—not merely as a biography, but as a sociological and political parable of struggle, betrayal, and erasure.

 

*The Birth of CRPC: A Cry Against Political Catastrophe*

 

The Indian Citizens’ Rights Preservation Committee was born on 4 August 1979, at Tangla in Udalguri district, at a time of acute political catastrophe. The death of Hiralal Patowary, MP of Mangoldoi constituency, triggered a storm: allegations surfaced that lakhs of so-called “foreigners” had illegally entered their names into Assam’s voters’ list. This demand, initially for electoral “purification,” soon snowballed into what became the infamous Assam Movement against foreigners.

 

In this atmosphere of suspicion and hostility, linguistic and religious minorities—particularly Bengalis—became the prime targets. Their citizenship was questioned, their loyalties doubted, their very existence painted as alien. Against this backdrop, Advocate Kalipada Sen rose as a defender of the oppressed. Along with leaders like Barrister A.F.Golam Osmani, Kabir Ray Pradhani, a towering Koch Rajbongshi figure from Assam and Bengal, and few others, he gave birth to the CRPC, a non-political umbrella platform for the protection of citizens’ rights.

A State-level convention at Hojai (26–27 September 1980) decided to rename the committee as Citizens’ Rights Preservation Committee (CRPC) Assam. Its leadership was expansive, cutting across religion, language, and community.

 

 *The Founding Leadership – A Collective of Stalwarts*

 

The State-level central committee of CRPC was formed with renowned personalities from across Assam, symbolizing the unity of Barak and Brahmaputra valleys. The prominent founders included:

 

Tarapada Bhattacharyya

 

Maulana Abdul Haque

 

Biresh Purkayastha

 

Haji Anfar Ali

 

Sadhan Ranjan Sarkar

 

Bidhan Chandra Purkayastha

 

Shanti Ranjan Ghatak

 

Dakkhina Ranjan Dev

 

Sirajul Haque

 

Girban Biswas

 

Nripendra Chandra Saha

 

Ajit Kumar Sengupta

 

 

Together with others, they created a rare umbrella where diverse linguistic and religious minorities found shelter, particularly the Bengalis from Barak to Brahmaputra.

 

 *The Emergence of Student Power – AAMSU*

 

The CRPC leadership quickly realized that no social movement could survive without the energy of the youth. Hence, on 28–31 March 1980, at Jaleswar in Goalpara, a new chapter was written—the birth of the All Assam Minority Students’ Union (AAMSU). This students’ organization became the youthful vanguard of the struggle, giving the movement both vigor and visibility.

 

 *From Rights to Representation – The Birth of UMF*

 

Despite its success in mobilizing minorities, the CRPC’s legal and social battles had limits. The leaders recognized that without political representation, the democratic fight for existence would remain incomplete. Thus emerged the United Minorities Front (UMF)—the first and only political party of the linguistic and religious minorities of Assam, with Kalipada Sen as its founder president.

 

For the first time in Assam’s history, Bengalis—Hindus and Muslims alike—stood under one banner. Alongside Sen, leaders like Barrister Golam Osmani (Ex-MLA, MP), Tarapada Bhattacharyya (Ex-MLA), Biresh Purkayastha, Advocate Bijoy Das, Jahirul Islam (Ex-MLA), Bidhan Chandra Purkayastha, and Kabir Ray Pradhani gave the movement depth and credibility.

 

*The 1985 Electoral Breakthrough*

 

In the 1985 elections, UMF made history. Riding on the collective grievances and aspirations of minorities, the party secured 17 seats in the Assam Assembly and 1 seat in Parliament. This was not just a numerical success—it was the political awakening of a silenced community, an assertion of Bengali identity, and a declaration that the minorities would no longer remain passive spectators.

*Why UMF Became a Threat*

 

The ruling establishment perceived UMF as a serious political threat. For the first time, minorities, especially Bengalis, were no longer dependent on mainstream parties for survival—they had carved out an independent space. This unnerved both ruling elites and chauvinistic movements.

 

*Conspiracies, Betrayals, and the Assassination of Sen*

 

But success bred conspiracy. Treacherous elements—both within UMF and from outside ruling circles—engineered cracks in the party. The unity of minorities was systematically weakened.

 

At the heart of this storm stood Advocate Kalipada Sen, the most uncompromising voice of the Bengalis of Assam. On 17 September 1986, he was brutally murdered at his Guwahati residence-cum-office. His mutilated body was not just evidence of barbarity; it was a chilling message to the entire Bengali community: your political voice will be silenced.

 

*Bridging the Barak–Brahmaputra Division*

 

One of the most remarkable contributions of CRPC and UMF leadership was their attempt to bridge the long-standing division between Barak Valley and Brahmaputra Valley Bengalis. Historically divided by geography, political manipulation, and cultural stereotypes, Bengalis of the two valleys found a common home under UMF. Though fragile, this unity was unprecedented and remains unmatched even today.

 

*Leadership Crisis and Internal Betrayals*

 

The tragedy of the Bengali community in Assam was not just external hostility, but internal betrayal. The very leaders entrusted with the responsibility of carrying forward the cause sometimes bartered it for short-term political gains. The absence of sustained, visionary leadership after Sen’s death left the community vulnerable—adrift in a hostile political landscape.

 

 

*Memory, Forgetting, and Collective Amnesia*

 

Sociologically, the Bengali tragedy in Assam is compounded by a peculiar collective amnesia. Communities often survive on memory; Bengalis of Assam, instead, have allowed forgetfulness to rule. Biresh Purkayastha, assassinated in Delhi; Kalipada Sen, butchered in Guwahati—both sacrificed their lives for the community, yet their names scarcely echo in public discourse. This forgetting is not just negligence—it is a form of self-inflicted erasure.

 

 

*The Present and the Future*

 

Today, the CRPC still survives, carrying forward its social, legal, and moral duties in the spirit of its founders. But UMF, once a vibrant political force, is now a ghost of history. Its absence has left a void in Assam’s political spectrum, a void that mainstream parties exploit, while Bengalis drift without a clear leadership.

 

*The questions remain urgent:*

 

Will Bengalis of Assam ever reclaim their political voice?

 

Will new leaders emerge who can bridge the valleys and unify the community?

 

Or will betrayal and amnesia continue to paralyze a nation-within-a-nation?

 

*Conclusion :*

 

Kalipada Sen’s life and death encapsulate the paradox of the Bengali community in Assam—brilliance in leadership, betrayal in follow-up, and silence in memory. His assassination was not merely the end of a life; it was the silencing of a dream. Yet, history whispers his name to those willing to listen.

 

If the Bengalis of Assam continue to forget him, history will not forgive them. For a community that forgets its martyrs invites perpetual humiliation.

 

Kalipada Sen must not remain the unlamented hero. He must be remembered as the voice of a people, the conscience of a community, and the martyr of a silenced nation.