Pictures Employees' Union since 1946; Vice-President, Bengal Provincial Trade Union Congress, 1948–49. Suffered imprisonment without trial twice – in 1948 and 1949. He won five consecutive elections from the Calcutta North East constituency in 1952, 1957, 1962, 1967 and 1971. He was elected to the first elected Parliament of independent India (1952–57) from a Calcutta constituency which returned him five times repeatedly till 1977 (Member, First Lok Sabha, 1952–57; Second Lok Sabha 1957–62; Third Lok Sabha, 1962–67; Fourth Lok Sabha, 1967–70 and Fifth Lok Sabha, 1971–77). He was the leader of CPI group, 1964 – 67. Deputy Leader, 1952 – 64, 1967 – 71. Member, Public Accounts Committee, 1969–70 and 1973–74; Chairman, Public Accounts Committee, 1975–76 and 1976–77; Member, Indian Delegation to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference (1959) in Australia, Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference (1972) in Italy, Yaounde, Cameroon (W. Africa), April 1972, and Rome, September 1972. He was also the honorary Adviser, Parliament Library and Bureau of Parliamentary Studies and Training, 1978–82; and Honorary Advisor to the Speaker of Lok Sabha, 1978–82. He was invited to International Teach-In by Toronto University, Canada (1966); invited to lecture at German Academy, Berlin, 1967; invited to take part in International Symposium on Lenin at Alma Ata, Kazakhstan, USSR in 1969; invited to deliver lectures at many universities in India and overseas. In spite of political preoccupation, he was known as an eminent academic. He received honorary degree of D.Litt. from Andhra University, Calcutta University, Kalyani University, North Bengal University and Rabindra Bharati University. He was awarded Soviet Land Nehru Prize in 1978; and was the recipient of Vidyasagar Award (1992) and Nazrul Award (2000) from the Government of West Bengal and Advaita Mallavarmana Award from the Government of Tripura (2002), Maulana Azad Award by the Muslim Cultural Association and Muzaffar Ahmed Smriti Puraskar. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1990 and Padma Vibhushan in 1991 by the President of India for his lifelong services. He was a writer of numerous articles in both English and Bengali over seven decades; author of nearly 50 published books. Hiren Mukerjee was a writer in two languages, English and Bengali, and commanded a distinctive and inimitable style in both. Despite the profundity of style and content he could introduce a charming lightheartedness and exuberance, his vocabulary ranging from the classical to the colloquial, and his references being wide, eclectic and polymathic. He was also an active epistoler, and