Ila Mitra: A symbol of indomitable courage

As far as I can remember, it was 1958. We lived in Bangshal then. I was a teenager. The atmosphere in our home was shaped by leftist politics, so books and magazines of the Left were regularly bought. One of them was a book titled Letters from Prison. I still remember its two-toned cover and the lightly coloured illustration. The cover showed a bird flying out of a cage. I read the poems during my adolescence.

The first poem was by the British Guianese poet and political activist Martin Carter (1927–1997). A few lines from the poem titled Letter 1 went like this:

“This is what they do with me

Put me in prison, hide me away

cut off the world, cut out the sun

darken the land, blacken the flower

stifle my breath and hope that I die!

But I laugh at them

I laugh because I know they cannot kill me

nor kill my thoughts, nor murder what I write.

I am a man living among my people”

I later lost that book of poems. After much searching, I found a coverless copy in the Prothom Alo library. I also remember two other poems from the book—one by the American writer Howard Fast about the Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet, who was imprisoned at the time, and another by Pablo Neruda about Howard Fast himself, the imprisoned author of Spartacus. Later, in the 1960s, I read Howard Fast’s plays and novels.

Letters from Prison contained six poems and ran to 44 pages. It was published in 1955 by Nababharati Prakashani, located on Shyamacharan De Street in Kolkata. The publisher was Sunil Dasgupta. In Pakistan, the book was available at Boighar on Firingi Bazar Road in Chattogram. The price was one taka eight annas. The translator of the book was Comrade Ila Mitra, the central figure of today’s discussion.

We know that in 1954, while imprisoned, Ila Mitra was undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital. From there, she was released on parole and went to Kolkata. This book was published in 1955. Ila Mitra translated a total of seven books, including Hiroshima’s Daughter.

Ila Mitra—our Ila-di—passed away in 2002. Though her ancestral home was in Jashore, she lived in Kolkata due to her father’s job. She studied at Bethune School and College and completed her BA there. Many years later, in 1957, she sat for a private examination in Kolkata and earned an MA in Bengali. Her husband, Ramen Mitra, passed away in 2005. They were married in 1945. Remarkably, in March 1948, Ila Mitra secretly came to Kolkata for the birth of her only child. From the sixteenth day after the birth, she hardly had any opportunity to see her child. Later, her mother-in-law took the child to Ramchandrapur village. Ila Mitra would sometimes go there secretly to see her son. When she was released in 1954 and returned to Kolkata, she was finally reunited with her only child.

Ila Mitra’s son was named Ranen Mitra, nicknamed Mohan. Mohan married Sukanya Mitra, daughter of the poet Ram Basu (1925–2007), a leftist progressive poet. Ranen and Sukanya had one child, Riten Mitra. In the 1990s, when we visited their home in Kolkata, we often saw Riten sitting on Ramen Mitra’s lap, listening to him recite poetry—Rabindranath Tagore’s poems. If I am not mistaken, I went to Kolkata in 2010 for Riten’s wedding. Many people from Bangladesh were invited, but I was the only one who attended. Most recently, I learned that Riten Mitra (the grandson of Ramen and Ila Mitra) died in a road accident in the United States. His wife, Niharika Mitra, now lives there. Since hearing this, I have repeatedly tried to call Mohan, Ila Mitra’s son. He does not answer the phone. I have heard that he is unwell. His wife Sukanya is also ill. Will there be no one left in their family? Such is life.

From her teenage years, Ila Mitra was actively involved in sports. Although she excelled primarily in athletics, she was equally skilled in swimming and other sports. From Desh magazine we learned that in 1940 she was selected to represent India at the Helsinki Olympics. But with the outbreak of the Second World War, she could not go. Eventually, those Olympics were never held.

Between the two of us, Maleka [ the author’s wife] met Ila Mitra first, during the Liberation War of 1971 in Kolkata. I met her in 1972, also in Kolkata. I had met Ramen Mitra earlier, in 1971, at our camp in Agartala during the Liberation War, and later again in Kolkata. When Ramen-da met Maleka, he would say, ‘Hey Maleka, you’ve become chhira-moti,’ meaning that Shrimati Maleka had been separated from Moti. Then, when I first went to Kolkata in 1972, I met both Ramen-da and Ila-di.

We met again in 1986. From then on, our acquaintance deepened. Between 1986 and the late 1990s, we met many times. How many conversations we had, how many stories about the past! She introduced me to so many people. Yet I was slightly afraid of Ila-di and could not be entirely at ease with her. By contrast, I felt a greater personal warmth towards Ramen Mitra. He spoke at length about past politics, movements, experiences at home and abroad, and about the many people he had encountered—artists, writers, poets. He gifted me two books. In essence, I asked him for volumes of selected poems by the two French poets Paul Éluard and Louis Aragon. Ila-di also introduced me to the poet Arun Mitra and to Golam Quddus. Through her help, I was also able to establish contact with several imprisoned comrades from Khapra Ward in Rajshahi.

One of Ila Mitra’s brothers, Nripen Sen, was a doctor. Hearing of my interests, he gave me the first two volumes of the four-volume autobiography Men, Years, Life: Memoirs by the renowned Soviet writer Ilya Ehrenburg. From then on, their home on CIT Road became our main place of attraction whenever we were in Kolkata. Another draw at the time was the Lenin School, located very close to Ila-di’s house. In a nearly abandoned room of that school lived Ranesh Dasgupta. He was one of the great teachers of my life. I had known him since 1963. Until his death, he told me and taught me so much. Those two places in Kolkata held a special fascination for me.

I remember that in 1999, Ila Mitra came to Dhaka for the last time, accompanying the body of Ranesh-da. That was my final meeting with Ila-di. After independence, she visited Bangladesh four or five times, but Ramen Mitra never came even once. In 1972, Ila-di came for the first time to attend the national conference of the Bangladesh Mahila Parishad. She came again in 1974 to participate in a teachers’ conference. On both occasions, she made a point of meeting Dr K S Alam, who in 1954, after her release on parole, had escorted her by air from Dhaka to Kolkata and admitted her to hospital. On both visits, she also met Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who had once been imprisoned alongside her. She visited again in 1996 on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the Nachole uprising.

TWO

Before her marriage, Ila Mitra was known as Ila Sen. At that time, she was actively involved in politics, working with the Student Federation and the Women’s Self-Defence Association. In 1943, she became a member of the Communist Party. After her marriage in 1945, she moved to the village with her husband, the communist activist Ramen Mitra, who came from a well-off family in Ramchandrapur, Chapainawabganj.

In 1946, when riots broke out in Noakhali following those in Kolkata, Ila Mitra went to Hasnabad in Noakhali with 12–14 communist women activists at Mahatma Gandhi’s call and led relief work there. They stayed in Noakhali for nine months. Alongside Ila Mitra were prominent women leaders such as Manorama Basu, Leela Nag, Ashalata Sen, and many others.

Life in Ramchandrapur was not easy for Ila Mitra. At first, in keeping with family tradition, she was kept almost confined within the household. Gradually, this situation changed. She began to realise that she had to become a worthy comrade to Ramen Mitra. She started a small school and began teaching children. Later, she began working among the Santal and other peasant communities.

In this way, Ila Mitra slowly emerged from the inner quarters and became accepted among ordinary peasants. Ramen Mitra stood beside her as a leader and secretary of the Kisan Sabha. For a long time, movements among Santal peasants had been active across the region, and even a hundred years earlier there had been the Santal rebellion. From this history too, Ila Mitra gained lessons and experience.

In 1947, when Pakistan and India emerged as two separate states, Ramen Mitra and Ila Mitra decided to remain in this land. They chose to stay in East Bengal in order to continue their struggles and movements aimed at improving the lives of peasants. On Independence Day, August 14, 1947, a large gathering was held in Ramchandrapur, where Ramen Mitra hoisted the Pakistani flag.

THREE

Even after the creation of Pakistan, the struggle for the rights of the peasantry did not cease. People from various classes and professions were also engaged in struggles for their own demands. In the early years of Pakistan, the Communist Party’s decision was to follow a policy of cooperation with the government in the new state. The communists would support any measures taken by the government in favour of working people.

At the large gathering held in Dhaka on August 14 to mark Independence Day, Congress leader Leela Nag and Communist leader Nepal Nag spoke alongside Chief Minister Khwaja Nazimuddin. By the end of 1947, the Communist Party withdrew the militant peasant movement. The party leadership of the time felt that the new government should be given a chance. Around then, a pamphlet was published titled Build a Happy Pakistan. However, the Muslim League government of the period continued its policy of repression against the communists. Although many political prisoners were released, communist detainees were not.

On 6 March 1947, the Communist Party of Pakistan was formed in Kolkata. Following the All-India Communist Party Congress held there, the Communist Party of Pakistan was established with Sajjad Zaheer as its General Secretary. A separate Communist Party was formed for East Bengal, with Khoka Roy as its Secretary. Members of that committee included Mani Singh and others.

At that congress in India, it was decided that the independence of 1947 was false and illusory, and that it would bring no benefit to ordinary working people. The bourgeoisie, it was argued, had opted for compromise, delaying the bourgeois-democratic revolution. Meanwhile, in Europe—particularly in much of Eastern Europe—socialism had already been established, and a revolution had taken place in China. In India, it was argued, both revolutions would have to be carried out together. In a spirit of self-criticism, the party stated that it had so far followed a right-wing reformist line. Now, it declared, militant struggle had to be built across the country. Through militant struggle and armed revolution, socialism was to be established in the region. The Communist Party of East Bengal adopted the same line.

Following this decision of the Party Congress, militant movements took shape towards the end of 1949: the Tonk movement among the Garo and Hajong communities in Mymensingh; the Tebhaga movement in Nachole, Rajshahi; and the Nankar movement in Sylhet. To suppress these militant movements, the government adopted harsh measures. Entire areas were devastated. A large number of leaders and activists were killed, and countless others were arrested. Some say that nearly 100 leaders and activists died as a result of this state repression. Even after all this, the party leadership continued to pursue the line of “armed conflict”, “civil war”, and “armed resistance”. Their slogan was: Yeh azadi jhooti hai, lakhon insaan bhookhe hain (This freedom is false; millions of people are hungry).

The Communist Party sought to mobilise not only peasants but also students, youth, and workers. However, it received little response. Hunger strikes continued not only outside but also inside prisons. Across various jails, hunger strikes lasted a total of 150 days. At the time, there was also the theory of a “jail revolution”—that resistance had to be organised from within prisons. In attempting to implement this line in Khapra Ward, seven communist leaders were killed. In this way, across India, 84 prisoners died in 11 separate incidents. As a result of the policy of attacking jail gates from outside, approximately 3,982 political leaders and activists were killed across India. Until then, the parties in both countries followed the same line (Matiur Rahman, Lal Salam: The Communist Party of Bangladesh, Prothoma Prokashan, 2025, p. 34).

Through these developments, the Communist Party of East Bengal found itself in a grave crisis. The party was badly weakened. Many members and activists left the country. The organisation fragmented. Debates and arguments intensified, while suspicion and mistrust grew. The membership of the Communist Party of East Bengal fell from 12,000 to just 300–400. At the same time, membership of the Communist Party of India, which had stood at 89,000, also declined to around 20,000 (Matiur Rahman, Lal Salam, 2025, p. 36).

In such circumstances, debates, disputes, and factional conflicts erupted among leftists across India, Pakistan, and East Bengal. Committees were formed repeatedly, but even changes in committees produced no results. Meetings were held again and again, with frequent changes in leadership. In short, this strategy of armed struggle pursued by the Communist Party in India and Pakistan at the time proved to be mistaken and self-destructive—for the party itself and for left-wing politics more broadly. It depleted organisational strength and led to the killing and brutal repression of countless leaders and activists. Rather than accelerating the prospects of revolution, it set them back. Both communist parties later acknowledged that this path of armed struggle was erroneous and moved away from it.

In 1951, a secret meeting of 30 leaders from East Bengal was held in Kolkata. There, the party acknowledged its major errors and deviations and adopted a new programme. S. A. Dange, a leader of the Communist Party of India, was present at the meeting. It was decided that the earlier path of armed struggle had been wrong. The party adopted a new political programme aimed at democracy. Gradually, it returned to the path of parliamentary democratic politics. Communist leaders from Bangladesh later stated that they had erred in adopting the policy of armed struggle and resistance. It was decided that the party would operate underground while working with other democratic parties. They would build student organisations and mass organisations, and then develop mass movements (Matiur Rahman, Lal Salam, 2025, pp. 39–40).

As a result of all this, the Communist Party played a particularly proactive role in the Language Movement of 1952. After the Language Movement of ‘52, the East Pakistan Students’ Union was formed. Democratic parties emerged in East Pakistan. The Youth League had already been established earlier, and through various cultural organisations and movements the party continued to advance.

We are familiar with the formation of the United Front and the elections of 1954. The Communist Party played a significant role in the creation of the United Front. Although the party itself was not formally included in the Front, it nonetheless played an important role from the sidelines. It is astonishing to reflect today that in that election, 24 left-wing political leaders were elected to the Provincial Assembly either under the name of the Communist Party or under other banners (Matiur Rahman, Lal Salam, 2025, p. 63). In 1954, through the votes of those provincial assembly members, Sardar Fazlul Karim was elected to the Pakistan Constituent Assembly.

FOUR

Under the influence of the Communist Party of East Bengal, peasant movements in the then East Bengal took on a militant character towards the end of 1949 and the beginning of 1950. Behind this lay the impact of the Communist Party’s ultra-left, adventurist political decisions.

During the Tonk movement, the Garo areas of Mymensingh, the regions of Beanibazar and Barlekha in Sylhet in opposition to the Nankar system, and the Nachole area of Rajshahi during the Tebhaga movement turned into battlefields. In Nachol, Santals armed with bows, arrows, and spears carried out patrols alongside volunteers. Gradually, the movement intensified. People from all communities united in this struggle, although the Santals were the principal driving force.

In response to these militant movements, village landlords also became aggressive. Police repression increased, which further fuelled the anger of the militant peasants. On 5 January 1950, a sub-inspector and three constables went on patrol in Kendua, Nachole. Finding no one, they began beating anyone they came across. The abused peasants then surrounded the police, and four police personnel were killed. The situation rapidly deteriorated. Ila Mitra, Ramen Mitra, and others were unable to intervene. The police and the army arrived and burned down 12 villages. Terrified, people fled the area. Many tried to cross the border. Severe repression was unleashed against peasant activists.

Ila Mitra and her companions attempted to cross the border but took the wrong route. Eventually, the next day, January 6, they sat down at Baharampur railway station in Nachol. Ila Mitra mingled with many Santal women and changed her appearance, but she was nonetheless arrested.

After her arrest, Ila Mitra was subjected to extreme torture for four days at Nachol police station. She was then taken to Nawabganj police station, where she was tortured repeatedly. Unspeakable abuse was inflicted on her; she was raped. After being brutally tortured and brought to the brink of death, she was transferred to Rajshahi Jail on January 21. There she underwent medical treatment for a long time. Although there was some improvement after treatment, her overall health never fully recovered.

While in Rajshahi Jail, Ila Mitra was initially kept in solitary confinement in a cell with no light or air. One day, after returning from court, she forced her way into the ward where other female prisoners were held and began living with them. At the time, other communist women were imprisoned there. Among them, Ila Mitra repeatedly mentioned Manorama Basu, with whose help she slowly began to recover. Even then, she never fully regained her health. At one point, her condition worsened severely, and she had to be taken to Rajshahi court on a stretcher. There, on the strong advice of her fellow prisoners Manorama Basu and Bhanu Devi, Ila Mitra publicly revealed in court the full details of the brutality and torture inflicted on her (Maleka Begum, Ila Mitra: Nacholer Tebhaga Andoloner Netri, Prothoma Prokashan, 2021, p. 53).

Protests over these events began in Rajshahi and spread across the country. Gradually, the truth came to light. In this way, the demand for Ila Mitra’s release moved to the forefront. The government was eventually compelled to transfer her to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for better treatment. Even after her arrival there, her condition did not improve significantly. Doctors, nurses, and students of the medical college tried to nurse her back to health. Left-wing progressive students, youth activists, political workers, and women activists visited her in hospital and offered her encouragement.

At that time, Ila Mitra’s health deteriorated sharply, and fears arose that she might not survive. On the initiative of the Communist Party, Ila Mitra’s son, Ranen Mitra, and her husband, Ramen Mitra (who was then in hiding), were secretly taken to the hospital ward. Ila Mitra looked at them in silence.

Among Indian poets, Subhash Mukhopadhyay and the writer-organiser Dipendranath Bandopadhyay visited Ila Mitra in hospital. Poet Subhash Mukhopadhyay wrote a poem about her titled “Parul Amar Bon” [My Sister Parul] and recited it to her. Leading poets and writers of Dhaka also went to encourage her. Murtaja Basheer drew her portrait. Alauddin Al Azad wrote a story about her. Fayez Ahmed wrote prose on her. Ahmad Rafiq also wrote about her. In this way, a major public stir grew around Ila Mitra, and demands for her release intensified.

By then, the Provincial Assembly formed through the United Front election raised the demand for her release. In particular, left-wing progressive parties and members of the Awami League pressed strongly for her freedom. Maulana Bhasani demanded her release. At the time, Sher-e-Bangla A. K. Fazlul Huq was the Governor of the province. Finally, in the face of mounting pressure, Ila Mitra was released on parole. Dr K. S. Alam accompanied her to Kolkata and admitted her to hospital. After a long period of treatment, she recovered.

Even after leaving for Kolkata, Ila Mitra remained a citizen of East Bengal. After recovering following prolonged treatment in Kolkata, she applied for Indian citizenship. At the time, demands were raised in both the Lok Sabha and the West Bengal Legislative Assembly for her to be granted Indian citizenship. Even so, it was not easy. Figures such as Hirendranath Mukhopadhyay and Aruna Asaf Ali discussed the matter with Jawaharlal Nehru. Eventually, through legal proceedings, it was decided that since her husband, Ramen Mitra, was an Indian citizen, his wife, Ila Mitra, was also entitled to Indian citizenship.

After recovering, Ila Mitra sat for a private examination at the University of Calcutta in 1957 and obtained an MA in Bengali. She then began teaching at City College, Kolkata, and once again became active in politics. From 1962 to 1978, she was elected to the Legislative Assembly four times. She served as the Deputy Leader of the Communist Party (CPI) in the Assembly. She was simultaneously a member of the National Council of the All India Women’s Federation and Vice-President of its West Bengal committee. Throughout her life, she remained closely associated with the teachers’ movement. Just as she had been imprisoned in East Bengal between 1950 and 1954, she was repeatedly jailed in West Bengal in 1962, 1970, 1971, and 1972. Despite frail health, she remained engaged in politics, social work, and the teachers’ movement. It can be said that, with unwavering self-confidence and revolutionary consciousness, she remained steadfast on this path of struggle throughout her life.

It is true that the ultra-adventurist policies of the Communist Party at that time led to serious political errors. As a result, many communist leaders and activists endured unspeakable torture. Many died while in prison or while living underground. Yet, despite everything, we can say with conviction that the story of the torture inflicted on Ila Mitra in the 1950s, and her courageous struggle to survive, later transformed her into a symbol of indomitable courage and the struggle for human rights for future generations. She has been honoured in both Bangladesh and India.

After her release from prison, Ila Mitra became actively involved in the women’s movement, the teachers’ movement, and political struggles in India. She will be remembered as a symbol of humane resistance, women’s dignity, and courageous leadership. Our respect and gratitude towards Ila Mitra will continue, in Bangladesh, in India, and in many other parts of the world.

Postscript:

The discussion I have presented on the indomitable Ila Mitra would more fittingly have been delivered by Ila Mitra scholar Maleka Begum. She dedicated her book Ila Mitra: Nacholer Tebhaga Andoloner Netri to me. Through that book, a wider readership in the Bengali language has come to know about Ila Mitra.

In the book’s dedication, Maleka Begum wrote that I had helped her greatly. How much help I was truly able to provide, I cannot say, but I did offer some assistance. We shared close personal relationships with Ila Mitra, Ramen Mitra, and Ranen Mitra (Mohan). I feel grateful that, through this discussion, I have been able to speak a little about them and take part in expressing love and respect for them from Bangladesh. At the same time, I wish to express my respect for Maleka Begum.

* Matiur Rahman is the editor and publisher of Prothom Alo.