Benoy Choudhury

Benoy Choudhury
বিনয় চৌধুরী
Minister of Land and Land Reform, Government of West Bengal
In office 1977-1996
Preceded by	Hare Krishna Konar
Succeeded by	Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
Member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly
In office 1951-1962
Preceded by	Position Created
Succeeded by	Nirupam Sen
Constituency	Bardhaman, Bardhaman South, Bardhaman North
In office 1969-1972
Preceded by	Position Created
Succeeded by	Nirupam Sen
Constituency	Bardhaman, Bardhaman South, Bardhaman North
In office 1977-1987
Preceded by	Position Created
Succeeded by	Nirupam Sen
Constituency	Bardhaman, Bardhaman South, Bardhaman North
Personal details
Born	(1911-01-16)16 January 1911 Sutra, Monteswer, Bengal Presidency, British India (Present day Monteswer, West Bengal, Kolkata
Died	6 May 2000(2000-05-06) (aged 89) Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Cause of death	Normal death
Citizenship	British Raj (1911–1947) Indian (1950–2000)
Nationality	Indian
Political party	Communist Party of India (Marxist) (1964-2000) Communist Party of India (1938-1964) Indian National Congress (1924-1938)
Residence	Bardhaman
Alma mater	Burdwan Municipal High School, Serampore College, University of Calcutta
Occupation	Communist Leader • Politician • Minister • Freedom Fighter •
Religion	None (Atheism) Formerly (Hinduism)

Benoy Choudhury (16 January 1911 – 6 May 2000) was an Indian revolutionary freedom fighter and politician, belonging to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) major role in land reforms in the India. He was also the Member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly for three times from Bardhaman constituency. He was the Minister of Land and Land Reform in government of West Bengal.

Early life[]

He passed matriculation from Burdwan Municipal High School and Intermediate in Science from Serampore College, under the University of Calcutta. As a student at the age of thirteen, Chowdhury joined the Indian freedom movement, joining the Indian National Congress party in 1924 along with his friend Saroj Mukherjee. He joined the Jugantar group in 1928 and was in jail before he could sit for his B.A. examination.^[1] While studying in Serampore College, he and Saroj Mukherjee became acquainted with Dr. Bhupendranath Datta and Communist leaders Muzaffar Ahmed and Abdul Halim. In 1930 he was sent to jail for his activities with Anushilan Samiti. Again in 1938 he was jailed for his involvement in Birbhum conspiracy case. He joined the Communist Party in 1938.^[1] filed his nomination for election from Burdwan constituency in 1951 while still in jail. Benoy Choudhury representing undivided CPI secured 11,439 votes, Uday Chand Mahtab, the erstwhile Maharaja of Burdwan, representing Congress secured 9,477 votes. Thereafter, he went on to win the Burdwan seat in 1957, and then the Burdwan South seat in 1969 and 1971. He won from the Bardhaman North seat in 1987 and 1991.^[2]

Land reforms[]

Hare Krishna Konar played a leading role in getting surplus land held by big land owners in excess of land ceiling laws and kept ‘benami’ (or false names) vested with the state. The quantum of land thus vested was around one million acres (4,000 km2) of good agricultural land. Subsequently, under the leadership of Benoy Choudhury land was distributed amongst 2.4 million landless and poor farmers. It has been argued that this land reform along with Operation Barga formed the base for the Left Front victory in subsequent elections.

Later life[]

After retirement from active politics, he lived in a small rented flat in Bidhannagar, trying to make a living on the spouse's pension he received from his dead wife's account. She had been the headmistress of a school. Benoy Choudhury was well known for his frank talking. On 17 December 1995, when he was the second man in the West Bengal government he remarked, "This is a government of contractors, by contractors and for contractors". After his death, one obituary note read, "A poor man he had nothing to bequeath so he gave his eyes to the eye bank and his body to Calcutta Medical College for research".^[3]

References[]