Chittabrata Majumdar was general secretary of Centre of Indian Trade Unions, the trade union wing of CPI from 2003 till his death. He was also a member of the politburo of the party and was always considered a hard liner. His body was taken in a procession at Kolkata and donated to a hospital
Formative years
Born at Dhaka, now in Bangladesh in 1935, he joined the Communist Party of India while still a student of Bangabasi College in 1954. After graduating in science he obtained another degree in textile technology. When CPI split in 1964, he joined CPI.
At the helm
He was elected to the West Bengal state assembly in 1967 and was minister, in charge of cottage and small-scale industries. However, he was really a party organization man. Majumdar rose sharply within the party. He was a member of the district secretariat in Howrah in 1968, a member of the state committee in 1982, general secretary of state unit of CITU in 1991 and finally general secretary at the national level in 2003. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha. As a CITU leader, he visited many countries, including the UK, Switzerland, Malaysia, France, Austria, North Korea, China and the then USSR.
His opinions
Speaking during the CPM central committee’s session at Kolkata in January 2007, which discussed land policy, Majumdar emphasized, "That policy only speaks of land for Special economic zones. The party has so far not taken any decision on how to deal with land acquisition for other industries,’’ Majumdar had strong views on foreign direct investment. Stating that allowing FDI in the country is compromising India's own "self reliance", he said, "No country can develop on the basis of foreign investment alone." He pointed out that an assessment should be made as to whether foreign investment is indeed beneficial to the country - in terms of employment and money generated - or just another way of international companies filling their deep pockets. On the eve of his joining the Rajya Sabha, he was asked whether it would send wrong signals to the industry, Majumdar said, "We are not here to liquidate industries. If our industrialists are sincere on growth, they need not get scared. In fact, this is a common phenomenon in advanced countries."
