Somnath Lahiri (1 September 1909 – 19 October 1984) was an Indian statesman, writer and a leader of Communist Party of India. He was a member of Constituent Assembly of India from Bengal and later served as a Member of West Bengal Legislative assembly. Early life Lahiri became attracted to Marxism under the guidance of Bengali revolutionary Bhupendranath Datta in 1930. Initially, he worked in E.B. Railway workers' union and played an important role with Dr. Ronen Sen and Abdul Halim in building the Communist party's Calcutta Committee. Importance in Politics Lahiri joined the Communist party in 1931, and started working in Rail and Trum workers Union in Kolkata. In 1933, he organized the first labour association of Tata Iron & Steel in Jamshedpur. According to the party's resolution of 1938, he became attached with Muzaffar Ahmed and Bankim Mukherjee and joined the Left consolidation committee. He also led the historical Sweeper strike of Kolkata Municipal Corporation in 1944. Lahiri was the sole Communist member in the Constituent Assembly in 1946. He also substantially contributed to the debates regarding drafting of the Constitution of India. Somnath Lahiri had said in CAD, Vol III, p. 404. that - "I feel that many of these fundamental rights have been framed from the point of view of a police Constable… you will find that very minimum rights have been conceded and are almost invariably followed by a proviso. Almost every article is followed by a proviso which takes away the right almost completely,..What should be our conception of fundamental rights ?....We want to incorporate every one of those rights which our people want to get." Works Somnath Lahiri was a well known political intellectual and writer. In 1931 he translated the book The State and Revolution to Bengali. Samyobad (Socialism) is another book of his. He was the editor of Swadhinata, a daily left political magazine. He also wrote many articles in Ganashakti, Aage Cholo, Kalanatar. Kalijuger golpo. The short stories collection of Somnath Lahiri was first published in 1967. References Members of the Constituent Assembly of India 1909 births 1984 deaths