NIRUPAM Sen ,Dedicated To Bengal’s Industrialization, Expires

Nirupam Sen, former West Bengal commerce and industry minister, considered architect of  West Bengal’ s industrial drive during Marxist regime, has passed away after protracted illness. 72 years old Sen breathed his last at 5.10 am on Monday after a cardiac arrest, hospital sources said. He was on life support after his health condition deteriorated in early December.”Sen was fighting kidney ailments. He was impaired by a cerebral attack in 2013,” an official at the hospital said.If was under the leadership of Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and Nirupam Sen that the Left Front initiated industrialisation in the state and focused on attracting private investment. The policy of industrialization helped the Left Front government headed by Buddhadeb Bhattacharya win the 2006 assembly election decisively. However, the protest  against land acquisition  at Singur in WB’s Hooghly district for setting up Tata Nano car plant had tainted the Left Front’s  image and impacted popularity. Due to protest against the forcible land acquisition by TMC led by Mamata Banerjee the Tata Motors moved  the car plant from Singur to Gujarat in 2008.The anti-land acquisition protests in Singur and Nandigram led by the then opposition Trinamool Congress was one of the reasons behind the fall of the 34-year-old Left Front government in the state in 2011.Nirupam Sen  had withdrawn himself from active politics  following protest over his industrialization policy and later due to ill health  quit the Politburo and other committees. He was a three-time lawmaker from Bardhaman Dakshin constituency. His mortal remains were taken to his residence in Bardhaman district.West Bengal Chief Minister and ruling Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee condoled  Sen’s death.In his condolence message, CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury says Sen was a “dedicated Communist. He devoted his entire life to the cause of the working class and the peasantry. Yechury tweeted.