The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) expresses profound shock and grief at the death of Bijan Dhar, member of its Central Committee and former Secretary of the Tripura State Committee of the Party. He died this morning at a Kolkata hospital where he was undergoing treatment for Covid. He was 70 years old.
Bijan Dhar was actively involved in the student movement in the 1970s. He was elected to the State Committee of the Party at its 10th Conference in 1978 and became a member of the State Secretariat in 1995. He was elected as the Secretary of the Tripura State Committee of the Party at its 19th state conference in 2008 and continued in that post till 2018. He was elected to the Central Committee of the Party at its 17th Congress in 2002. As Secretary of the State Committee for nearly a decade, he made an important contribution to building up the Party organisation. Since 2018 he has been the Convenor of the Left Front Committee in the state.
During the Emergency in 1975-77, he had remained underground for more than a year before he was subsequently arrested and jailed for five months.
Erudite and well versed in Marxist theory, he contributed immensely to educate the rank and file of the Party in the state.
Despite various health complications, Bijan Dhar continued to work tirelessly displaying a high level of commitment to the cause of the Party. His departure, coming at a time when the Party is valiantly facing vicious and violent attacks in Tripura as also the death of his colleague Gautam Das, last month, is a great loss for the Party.
The Polit Bureau conveys its heartfelt condolences to his wife Ila Dasgupta, daughter Gopa Dhar and other members of his family.