580. Mukunda Mahato,, 581. Muzaffar Ahmed (1889-1973)

Mukunda Mahato was born in Purulia. He was arrested for participating in Quit India movement. He died in prison cell.




Muzaffar Ahmad (Bengali: মুজাফ্‌ফর আহমদ) (August 5, 1889 – December 18, 1973) was a noted Bengali politician, journalist and communist activist, popularly known as "Kakababu".
He was born at Musapur village in Sandwip Island in Noakhali District of Bengal Province in British India (in the present day Bangladesh). His father's name was Mansur Ali and Mother's name was Chuna Bibi. He passed Matriculation Examination in 1913. He joined in freedom struggle during his student life. In 1918 he was appointed joint secretary of "Bangio musalman sahitya Samiti". In 1920, along with Kazi Nazrul Islam he started a new magazine,Navayug. Later, when another magazine, Dhumketu was launched by Nazrul in 1922, he contributed to it using the pseudonym "Dvaipayana".
He made contact with the Communist International in 1922 through Manabendra Roy. He was first arrested in 1923. He became member of Bangiya Pradeshik Congress Committee in 1926-27.and All India Congress Committee in 1927-29.

Kakababu and the communist movement

Ahmad was one of the founders of the Communist Party of India. In 1922, the Bharat Samyatantra Samiti was formed in Calcutta with Kakababu as its secretary. In 1924, he was sentenced to four years in prison because of his role in the Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case along with S.A. Dange, Nalini Gupta and Shaukat Usmani. He was released due to illness in 1925. In November, 1925 he, along with Qazi Nazrul Islam, Hemanta Kumar Sarkar, and others, organized the Labour Swaraj Party in Bengal.

On March 20, 1929 the British colonial government arrested 31 labour activists and sent them to Meerut for trial. Kakababu was the chief accused, along with S.A. Dange, Shaukat Usmani, P.C. Joshi and others, was convicted in this so-called Meerut Conspiracy Case. He was released in 1936. He had served the longest term in jail as the Chief Accused in the Meerut Trial.

On March 25, 1948, the Communist Party of India was banned by the Government of India and Kakababu was imprisoned. He was released from prison in 1951. He was again arrested and imprisoned for two years in 1962, and another time for two years in 1965. He was imprisoned several times in post-Independence India by the Congress government. 
( Meerut Accused)
He was an important founder of Bharat krishak sabha in 1936. When Communist Party declared illegal he was arrested and imprisoned for 3 years from 1948 to 1951.In 1962 , during India and China conflict he was imprisoned for 2 years.He was a member of the Central committee of CPI for 40 years.He joined in Communist Party (Marxist) when it was divided in two fraction. He was the founder of Ganashakti printers and main organisor of National book agency. His important works are " Nazruler Smritikatha" and "History of Communist Movement in India."

Death

He died in Calcutta in 1973, aged 84.

Tribute

The headquarters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in West Bengal is named after him. Also, Ripon Street, a thoroughfare in Kolkata, was renamed "Muzaffar Ahmad Street", though the former name is more commonly used.