Ajoy Ghosh

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Ajoy Kumar Ghosh (20 February 1909 – 13 January 1962) was an Indian freedom fighter and a prominent leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI). He served as the CPI’s general secretary from the early 1950s until his death in 1962, guiding the party through a challenging era before the CPI split. Born in Mihijam, Bengal Presidency, he moved to Kanpur with his father, Dr. Shachindranath Ghosh. In 1926 he met Bhagat Singh and Batukeshwar Dutt on his way to Allahabad University and joined the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. He was arrested after the Lahore Conspiracy Case in 1929 but released for lack of evidence; he was arrested again in 1931 and met Srinivas Sardeshai in prison. After his release, he joined the Communist Party of India, was elected to the Central Committee in 1934 and to the Polit Bureau in 1936, and in 1938 joined the editorial board of the party’s mouthpiece, National Front. Ghosh led the CPI as a central figure in the early 1960s and was a key player in the centrist faction before the CPI(M) split. He died on 13 January 1962 at the age of 52. He was preceded as general secretary by Chandra Rajeswara Rao and succeeded by E. M. S. Namboodiripad.