Comrade Tridib Ghosh, aged 82 years, passed away on 15 December 2020 at the Rampyare Hospital in Bariyatu, Ranchi. He was diagnosed as Covid positive and was admitted to the hospital along with his wife Malancha Ghosh a few days ago. He had recovered from Covid, but one day before his release from the hospital he suffered a heart attack at 4.30 pm and passed away.
After completing his studies in Engineering from Germany, Comrade Tridib joined Bokaro Steel Plant as an engineer. Meanwhile, he joined PUCL and was active as a civil rights activist. However, in the 70s and 80s the revolutionary people’s struggles in Bihar and Jharkhand impressed him so much that he left his job and became a full-time activist of the revolutionary Left. Along with Jharkhand’s well-loved people’s leader Mahendra Singh, he played a key role in the formation of the Indian People’s Front and attended the IPF foundation conference in Delhi with committed social activists including renowned Jharkhand intellectual Dr VP Kesari. He became the National Vice President of IPF and later its Bihar-Jharkhand Joint Secretary.
Around 1978 he came into close contact with the CPIML, and joined the party in late 1980. Later, he became a member of the party’s Central Bihar Regional Committee. He became prominently known in the 90s for organizing the movement against the police torture and killing of three youths at Hesang (Ranchi). With Comrade Mahendra Singh he led many people’s movements for a separate Jharkhand State under the Jharkhand Mazdoor Kisan Samiti banner. When Mahendra Singh was sentenced to death in a false case he organized the Nyay Manch and led a forceful movement that achieved the release of Mahendra Singh. He contested the Hazaribagh Parliamentary constituency as the IPF candidate. He played a leading role in the movement the draconian POTA Act. He also fought for issues of jal-jangal-jameen and adivasi rights and organized many people’s movements with human rights activist Fr Stan Swamy. As age advanced and health deteriorated, he became less active in people’s movements, but he always remained a fearless spokesperson for revolutionary politics and civil rights.
Comrade Tridib’s final journey on 16 December was attended by CPIML Bagodar MLA Comrade Vinod Singh, State Committee member Bhuvaneshwar Kewat and Anil Anshuman. CPIML General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya attended the condolence meeting organized at the Party State office in Ranchi. Comrade Tridib Ghosh was an intense Communist thinker and a grass-roots activist for democratic rights. His demise is the loss of another link in the chain of Jharkhand’s visionary thinkers from the generation of Dr Ramdayal Munda, Dr VP Kesari and Comrde Mahendra Singh.
