Moni Bose – A life of Struggles

Moni Bose, who was elected as the new General Secretary, was no new person to the union. He has been in the forefront of struggles and activities since his entry as a clerk in the office of the Divisional Engineer, Telegraphs, City Division, Calcutta in August 1945.

Moni was the younger brother of Com.K.G.Bose, the veteran leader of the P&T Trade Union movement, who was  President of NFPTE. KG died on 11th December 1974 at the age of 54 due to cancer.

Within one year of Moni Bose’s entry in service, the 1946 P & T Strike started. He was actively involved in the strike which was organised under the leadership of Comrades Dada Ghosh, K.G.Bose and others in Bengal. As an active  member of the Indian Telegraph Association (ITA), Moni participated in the strike.

He took a very active role in the formation of the Union of P&T Workers (UPTW) in 1947, which was formed by merging all the existing P&T Unions.

A strike was proposed to be organised in P&T in 1948-49, but even before the strike could start, most of the leaders were arrested and jailed. Moni was also arrested. Department immediately terminated his services with some other comrades. He was never reinstated in the department, but continued to work in the union.

After the death of his brother K.G.Bose, Moni was elected to the post of W.Bengal Circle Secretary of the All India Telegraph Engineering Employees Union Class III (E.III Union). In 1976 Chandigarh AIC, he was elected as Vice-President of E.III(CHQ). He continued in that capacity till, along with other comrades, resigned the post in 1991 protesting against the anti-worker agreements signed by OPG.

In October 1991, he was elected as General Secretary of E III Union at the Bhopal AIC. He was elected as the President of the Union in 1994 Thiruvananthapuram AIC. To enable the union to apply for recognition under the New Recognition Rules, he resigned the post in 1996, so that a working employee can be made President.

Moni Bose was a good orator and conversationalist. Firmly committed to progressive ideology, he lived a simple life at his residence at Calcutta, after leaving from CHQ New Delhi. He was fully active in the union till his end. He passed away at Calcutta on 19th May 2010 after a severe heart attack.

Com. Moni Bose is survived by his wife, Jyotsna Bose, also a retired employee (Telephone operator). They have two children. Dr.Gautam Bose is practicing in his own clinic at Kolkata, while the daughter, Smt. Susmita Bose is married to Com. Neelotpal Basu, former M.P. and CC Member of CPI(M) and employed in New Delhi.(To be continued)