THE sudden demise of Comrade Dhurjoti Prasad Bakshi is a great loss to our party and I count it as a very painful personal loss. While I knew him even earlier, our close association began during the reorganisation period of our party, and we remained close till his last breath. That’s why I could never accept him struggling with pain on his hospital bed.

In his boyhood Pranab loved movies and sports - football and cricket. After school, Pranab took admission in Durgapur Regional Engineering College where he met Comrade Vinod Mishra and some other comrades, and was influenced by the Naxalbari movement. Leaving his college education behind, Pranab started working among the colliery workers at Bankola of Ukhra and Nabaghanapur villages while remaining in underground. This first exposure helped him to get himself integrated with the workers and peasants. He was readily accepted as one of them, and they provided him safe shelters even during the setback years in mid-70s.

In the early 1980s, we began our efforts to make contacts with the communist parties of other countries. Arrangements were made to send Comrades Vinod Mishra and Swadesh Bhattacharya to China for the first time. Later another delegation comprising Comrades Ram Naresh Ram (Parasji),Swadesh Bhattacharya and I went to China, but we had to leave Pranab behind because of his injured leg. We returned to India after spending nearly one month in China and placed our detailed report before Vinod Mishra and Pranab.

Twice we made failed attempts to publish the complete works of Comrade Charu Majumder. The first time, many women comrades willingly donated their gold ornaments for this publication. But Police administration came to know about this, raided and confiscated everything prior to its publication. We made a huge effort and generated the amount needed a second time. But unfortunately the collected amount was stolen in a  theft from the house of Pranab’s sister. Pranab suffered a mental shock and felt very remorseful for a long time, before gathering himself and collecting the fund once more with renewed zeal.

Pranab played a very important role in organizing our 5th Party Congress in Kolkata way back in 1992 in which the party came out in the open from the underground party structure.  

It still feels like Pranab is sitting next to me in the West Bengal party office at Creek Row!