Dhanbad: Marxist Thinker and three-time former MP of Dhanbad AK Roy passed way at the Central Hospital of the BCCL here leaving behind a void in the political fulcrum of the state and a legacy of simplicity and humility which is tough to expect from the present-day politicians. Founder of the Marxist Coordination Committee (MCC) Arun Kumar Roy of AK Roy or popularly known among the people as Rai Dada before coming to politics used to work as a chemical engineer in the Sindri Fertiliser factory however as he lent his support to the strike in the plant in 1966-67 he was sacked by the management after which he plunged into politics by joining the CPI (M) in which he remained till 1971.
Thereafter he found the Marxist Coordination Committee and started his separate political journey and contested the elections and got elected from the Sindri Vidhan Sabha seat of unified Bihar. On three occasions he represented the constituency as its MLA after imposition of emergency in the country he was also put into jail. As an independent candidate for the first time he contested the Dhanbad Lok Sabha polls in 1977 and emerged victorious and also won on two other occasions from the seat in 1980 and 1989.
AK Roy was also a key figure of the separate statehood movement of Jharkhand and was among the founder members of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha which came into existence on February 4, 1972 in Dhanbad however due to some ideological issues he parted his ways from Shibu Soren but continued to support his cause. Rai Da who also did not marry was perhaps the only former MP in the country who did not take his pension and gave the pension money to the President’s fund.
During 1989-91 a bill to increase the salary and pension of MPs was brought into the parliament to which he had opposed stating that people elect their MPs for service so they should not be given salary or pension but after he lost the Lok Sabha polls in 1991 he refused to take away the pension money. A leader like AJ Roy is hard to find as he used to live in the MCC office located in Purana Bazar area and also use to cook his own food and clean the office premises till 2012 as he remained fit.
Despite being a three-time MP and MLA he had no property or bank balance. As his condition declined a party worker Subal Gorai kept him in his house at Nunudih. His supporters had celebrated his 85th birthday on June 15 at Nunudih this year, unfortunately, it turned out to his last.
Arun Kumar Roy was born on 15 June 1935 in Sapura village of Rajshahi district of the then East Bengal, to Shibesh Chandra Roy and Renuka Roy. His father was an advocate by profession who had his legal practice in Rajshahi Court, but later shifted to Dinajpur in 1960 and started practicing in Raiganj Court. His father died in 1967 in the court premises after suffering a blackout.
Roy’s parents were both anti-British activists also had served time in prison for participation in the freedom movement. Roy completed his primary education from a local school at Naogaon, Rajshahi in 1951 and later went to Belur Ram Krishna Mission School, from where he completed his secondary education. He graduated in Science from Surendranath College, Kolkata, and later gained a Masters Degree in 1959 in Chemical Engineering from the Calcutta University. Roy started his vocation in an industrial house of Kolkata from where a couple of years later he moved to Sindri and rest as they say is history.