Suranjit Sengupta - 'A passenger of the last train'

Suranjit Sengupta, a member of almost all the parliaments who played a key role in bringing the Constitution back to its original shape, saw his career as a minister crash in a debacle in his final years.

Suranjit entered leftist politics during the 60s when the Bengali nation was fighting tooth and nail for independence.

Before joining the Awami League two decades ago, the freedom fighter had been known as 'a big leader of a small party'.

He represented Sunamganj's Dirai in Parliament seven times in independent Bangladesh.

He was the chief of the parliamentary standing committee on law, justice and parliament affairs ministry before his death.

An eloquent parliamentarian and sharp-witted public speaker, Suranjit had the charisma to make headlines without holding any significant office thanks to his expertise on the Constitution and skillful political analysis.

But his significance in the Awami League was clear in the condolence messages of the heads of the state and the government, and the reaction of the ruling party's general secretary.

President Md Abdul Hamid has termed him 'unmatched as a parliamentarian of skill and experience'.

In her message, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has said Parliament has lost an experienced politician while the Awami League has lost a leader who was at the forefront of every progressive political movement.

In Awami League General Secretary Obaidul Quader's words, Suranjit was 'Number One' as a parliamentarian.

The Awami League Advisory Council member died undergoing treatment at a Dhaka hospital early on Sunday. He was suffering from cancer.

The Awami League leaders and activists flocked to his house at the capital's Jigatola in the morning to mourn the demise of the veteran.

“Parliament has lost a great lawmaker,” said Finance Minister AMA Muhith. “A great loss. He was a complete politician. He only had to stand in Parliament.”  

Though Muhith is older than Suranjit, the latter started his career as a politician well before him. Suranjit was one of the youngest members of the then East Pakistan Provincial Assembly.

Muhith said only two other politicians, who were in the political arena when Suranjit was first elected a public representative in 1970, are still in the same field.

The two, in his view, are Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed and President Hamid.

Born in 1946 at Anwarapur, Suranjit pursued leftist politics in his early days.

After completing undergraduate and postgraduate education at  Dhaka University, he got his LLB at the Central Law College and practised law for some time.

Suranjit, who was involved with leftist student body 'Chhatra Union', hit the spotlight during the 1970 election when he was elected lawmaker from the National Awami Party (NAP) amid landslide victory of the Awami League throughout then the East Pakistan.

He fought the 1971 Liberation War against Pakistan as a sub-commander of Sector-5.

In 1979, he represented the 'Ekota Party' and in 1991, the 'Ganatantri Party' in Parliament.

Suranjit, however, lost in the 1996 elections after joining the Awami League. Later, he was elected MP from another seat in a by-election.

He was elected MP in consecutive eighth, ninth and 10th parliaments.

He was a member of Bangladesh’s first committee for drafting the Constitution and also served as the co-chairman of the parliamentary panel on the 15th Amendment during the Ninth Parliament.

Hasina appointed him her parliamentary affairs adviser when she was elected prime minister for the first time in 1996.

After the military-installed caretaker regime took power in 2007, Suranjit was among those politicians who had advocated reforms in the two major political parties - the Awami League and the BNP.

After Awami League's landslide victory in the 2008 polls, Suranjit along with other 'reformist' top Awami Leaguers were kept outside the government.

He lost his post in the party's policymaking Presidium and was put on the apparently 'powerless' Advisory Council with other veteran leaders like Tofail Ahmed, Amir Hossain Amu and late Abdur Razzaq.

But Suranjit, an outspoken politician, did not back off. "You can be spared by a tiger, but not by Sheikh Hasina," he had told the media when he was cornered in the party due to his stance during the caretaker government.

After the Awami League had passed three years in power, Suranjit confirmed his berth in the Cabinet in 2011.

"I am a passenger of the last train," he said after taking charge of the newly formed railways ministry, aged 65.

After taking oath, he vowed to free the railways from corruption. "I want to find the Black Cat," he said.

But he came under intense pressure when a large amount of cash was found in the car of one of his aides five months later.

He resigned as the railways minister following the scam. Hasina, however, retained him as a minister without portfolio.

After the election to the 10th Parliament, Suranjit was not put back in the Cabinet. But his homour-filled comments regularly kept the media and the public interested. He spoke in Parliament a week before his death.

The Prime Minister's Energy Affairs Adviser Tawfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury said: “Suranjit Sengupta was an exceptionally keen and reasonable man with a great sense of humour. He was exemplary. We have lost a vital pillar of our politics.”

Suranjit was uncompromising about Parliament's sovereignty and lo ked horns the judiciary over the issue several times.

Remembering his stance for Parliament, Workers Party President and Civil Aviation Minister Rashed Khan Menon said, "He had played a vital role in drafting the Constitution. He had been vocal, even while serving as a minister, if anyone tried to attack the Parliament's independence."

Among four brothers and a sister, Suranjit was the youngest. Three of his brothers have passed away before him. His sister lives in Kolkata.

Suranjit’s wife, Jaya Sengupta, works at an NGO. Soumen Sengupta is their only son.