Indrajit was born on March 18, 1919 in an anglicised Bengali family in Calcutta in a period of intensification of the freedom movement against the Britishers. His paternal grandfather Beharilal Gupta was the third Indian ICS while his father Satish Chandra Gupta belonged to the IA&AS becoming the Accountant General of India. His elder brother Ranjit Gupta was also a member of ICS who worked as Chief Secretary of Bengal government for a long period under the chief minister Dr. B.C Roy. Indrajit was brought up in a liberal environment amidst heaps of books encompassing all subjects of topical interest. The young Indrajit was a keen observer in his school days at Ballygunge Government School where the renowned director Satyajit Roy was his junior by two years. Indrajit studied at St. Stephens College in Delhi with economic honours and then left for Britain to study at Cambridge University on the lines of his family’s traditions.

It was in Cambridge during his study in late 1930s that Indrajit finally embraced Marxism and came in touch with legendary Communist leader of Britain Rajani Palme Dutt and decided to devote his life to the work of the Communist Party of India after returning to the country. The 1930s was a period of big turmoil in Europe with the rise of the Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in Germany and the increasing possibility of a fascist take over of the European countries. Indrajit returned to Calcutta in 1938 after getting his trips from Cambridge and as directed by the CPI leadership, took up trade union work among the Bengal’s workers. Initially, his main area of operation was among the workers of the jute mills in the state.

From 1938 to 1960, till he won a by election in a Calcutta constituency to Lok Sabha, Indrajit’s full focus was on trade unions and party work. Through his hard work and understanding of the delicate trade union issues, he soon emerged both as a national as well as an international leader in the trade union front. The CPI leader had his moments of trial and tribulations during the B.T. Ranadive’s adventurous period between 1948 to 1950. He had reservations about Ranadive line but he was a disciplined soldier of the CPI and he always believed in the democratic process of decision making in leadership.

From 1960 till his death on February 20, 2001, Indrajit was a member of Lok Sabha excepting 1977-1980 when he was defeated in the post emergency Lok Sabha elections in 1977.

Just like the trade union front which was his dedicated operational area from 1938 to 1960, Indrajit showed his mettle in parliamentary arena very soon after becoming the Lok Sabha member. It was a pleasure for the Lok Sabha members as also media people to hear his speeches and interventions in the Lok Sabha proceedings. He served on a number of parliamentary committees with distinction. He was chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on defence during 1995–1996 and was chairman of the committee on subordinate legislation from 1999 till his death. He was a member of the rules committee during 1990–1991, general purposes committee during 1985–1989 and from 1998 onwards; committee on defence from 1998–2000, committee on petitions during 1986–1987, business advisory committee from 1986–1987 and in 1989, library committee during 1990–1991 and the committee to review Lok Sabha Secretariat rules in 1990.

Indrajit was conferred with the ‘Outstanding Parliamentarian’ Award in 1992. He served the Lok Sabha for 37 years, and when he died President K.R. Narayanan paid a tribute, using three characteristics in his condolence message that suitably describes the man: "Gandhian simplicity, democratic outlook and deep commitment to values." He was union Home Minister from 1996 to 1998 under Deve Gowda and I K Gujral’s Prime Ministerships. He stayed in the same small flat at Western Court even after occupying the second most important post of the Government.

Starting the CPI work at the grassroots level from 1938 , Indrajit was made General Secretary of CPI in 1990 at the age of 71. He held the office for six years till 1996. An active trade unionist, Gupta had earlier been General Secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress during 1980–90. He was also Vice-President of the World Federation of Trade Unions and elected its President in 1998.The CPI leader was active till he fell ill in 2,000. He died in Kolkata on February 20, 2001.

This writer had a three decade long acquaintance with Indrajit, first in Calcutta, then in Delhi. He was the gem of a man. We had a small group of friends who met at Indrajit’s flat at the Western Court for gossip session once in a month from 1990 to 1999. The group consisted of A B Bardhan, CPI general secretary succeeding Indrajit, Prabhat Dasgupta, a contemporary of Indrajit and senior journalist in CPI weekly New Age, his wife, Women’s leader Bani Dasgupta and Deb Kumar Ganguly, then a leader of World Federation of Trade Unions. That was the session hosted by Indrajit where he came out in his other form, not as a serious party leader but as a raconteur of his varied experiences.

Indrajit loved scotch whiskey but he was a slow drinker just like Jyoti Basu. His famous tales were about his interaction with RPD and some British communist leaders like Harry Pollit. I came to know from him that RPD was very proud of his pedigree as the scion of Rambagan Dutt family of aristocrat Calcutta. That was the only family in the 19th century Calcutta which could challenge Tagore family of Jorasanko in terms of contribution to Bengal renaissance. When I asked him what about your great Gupta family which was also a leading one of 19th century Calcutta, Indrajit gave a big laugh saying RPD’s family was only competing with Tagore’s. No other family he took into account.

Indrajit was a great stickler for ethical values. That was why during short tenure as Home Minister, the CPI and the Left members sometimes were unhappy as he never complied with requests defying the accepted norms. He never used bad words against his rivals. He was a very good writer of drafts but he did not properly use his writing skill and talent. Indrajit thought a lot about the caste system and the BJP’s use of religion to fetch votes. He was much above the norms of a normal political leader with killer instinct. He never sought power on his own, power was thrust on him by others.

As the former President K R Narayanan said after his passing away, Indrajit was an epitome of Gandhian discipline. He physically suffered during his last days due to his throat cancer. Before he was leaving from New Delhi to Kolkata in his last journey, his personal assistant Jyotish called me and said ‘Nityada, Saheb is leaving for Kolkata, he was silent for a while then said, Saheb may not come back’. I kept mum. Jyotish understood he switched off the phone. I did not go, I will always remember a proud, confident Indrajit Gupta with his roaring voice saying ‘Kemon Acho’ (How are you?. I will always carry that image of our Saheb (We used to call him Saheb, while his close friends and Friends in Britain called him ‘Sunny’. There will not be another Indrajit Gupta in Indian Lok Sabha. (IPA Service)