He was a leader of the Ganamukti Parishad (Tripura State Indigenous People's Liberation Council) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

[1] Dasaratha Debbarma, a legendary leader[2] of the Indian Communist movement was born on 2 February 1916 into a poor peasant family in remote Boltali village in the present day Khowai district of Tripura.

The first unit of the Party in Agartala was formed with some local youths including Comrade Biren Datta who, besides Debbarma, was elected to the first Lok Sabha from Tripura.

In 1964, he founded the Tripura Rajya Upajati Ganamukti Parishad, a frontal organization of CPI(M).

In 1978, he was elected for the first time in Tripura Vidhan Sabha from Ramchandraghat constituency and became the Minister for Education in the first Left Front government.

He declined to contest the Vidhan Sabha election in 1998 on health grounds, and died seven months after leaving office.