Voice of dissent, ‘chashar beta’: Former minister Rezzak Molla passes away at 81
Times of India | 12 April 2025
Kolkata: Former state minister Abdur Rezzak Molla passed away at his ancestral home in Bhangar on Friday morning. He was 81. Molla had served as a minister in cabinets of three chief ministers — Jyoti Basu, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Mamata Banerjee.
First elected as a CPM MLA from Bhangar in 1972, Molla became a minister in the Basu cabinet in 1982. He was among the few CPM netas who won the 2011 Bengal assembly polls.
Many would still recall Molla's (then the land reforms minister) critique of the Bhattacharjee-led govt's acquisition of fertile lands for setting up industries in Bengal. The snide remark of the gamchha-sporting "chashar beta" (son of a farmer) about the Left Front govt after its fall — ‘hele dhorte pare na keute dhorte gechhe (people who can't handle a harmless non-venomous snake tried to catch a cobra. Hele is a striped keelback while keute is a monocled cobra)' — became a popular quote.
In her condolence message, CM Banerjee wrote: "His knowledge and experience in Bengal's rural life, agricultural economy, and land reform were well-known. Therefore, even though he once practised politics of a different style, it was easy and natural for him to join the govt of the Ma-mati-manush. His death created an irreplaceable void in the political life of Bengal."
As a land reforms minister in the Bhattacharjee govt, Molla in 2008 opposed the Singur land acquisition. Earlier, he had expressed dissent over the govt's bid to acquire farmlands in Canning and Bhangar, which made the govt drop the plan.
Aware of the plight of sharetillers and farm labourers, Molla went on record saying that the Sachar Committee report on Muslims in Bengal and the land acquisition bids had led to the shift of minority votes from the CPM.
In fact, when the Banerjee-led govt sought to reclaim the Singur land acquired for the Tatas, Molla, still a CPM MLA, was reluctant to oppose the bill in the assembly.
Molla left CPM and in 2014 floated the Bharatiya Nyay Bichar Party with an aim to bring together the oppressed lower castes, both Hindus and Muslims. The party expelled Molla in 2016 on grounds that he had established contact with Trinamool.
Molla joined the second Mamata Banerjee cabinet in 2016 as minister of food procurement and horticulture. He was not keeping well during his TMC stint and faced challenges from his once-close aide Shaukat Molla in Bhangar. With age and health against him, Rezzak Molla slowly withdrew from politics and confined himself to his ancestral home at Bakri village.