Former West Bengal Commerce and Industry Minister and senior CPI(M) leader Nirupam Sen passed away on Morning morning following a cardiac arrest. The former politburo member of the party was on life support in the hospital after his health condition deteriorated earlier this month. Sen was suffering from kidney ailments and was impaired by a cerebral attack in 2013. His last rites will be conducted in Sen’s hometown Burdwan on the same day.

Who was Nirupam Sen?

Nirupam Sen was considered one of tallest leaders in West Bengal and was instrumental in turning Burdwan into a political bastion for the Left. He was elected twice in 2001 and 2006 from Burdwan South (Bardhaman Dakshin) assembly constituency. Eventually, he lost the seat in 2011 to Trinamool Congress.

Sen was inducted into the state cabinet in 2001 and entrusted with the crucial Commerce and Industry ministry. He held the portfolio till 2011. He was a member of the all-powerful Politburo Committee of CPI(M).

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Sen was considered as a powerful person in the Left government in West Bengal and was a key aide to former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. The duo set out the state government’s priorities on industrial development going against the earlier Left policy in the state.

However, it was Sen’s tenure that saw the beginning of the end for CPI(M) due to two major incidents — Singur and Nandigram — linked to industrial projects. These two projects sparked massive uproar and acted as a shot in the arm for Mamata Banerjee.

Sen stepped down from the CPI(M) Politburo during the party’s Vishakapatanam Congress in 2015. Sen also relinquished positions from the party in 2018.

Apart from Singur and Nandigram, Sen’s name also cropped up in the Sainbari massacre. On March 17, 1970 after the fall of United Front government in Bengal, two Congress activists were allegedly killed at their residence and their mother was forced to consume rice strained with her son’s blood. Sen’s name featured in the list of 83 persons named in the FIR.