Mohammed Amin (politician)
His grandfather Abdur Rehman hailed from Varanasi District and was a farmer, who had left for Karachi and had then settled at Shibpur.
He became a jute mill worker in 1942 at a time when Calcutta was experiencing regular bombardments during the World War II.
On 29 July 1946, he attended a huge rally at Maidan on the call of Bengal Provincial Trade Union Congress (BPTUC), a state wing of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), on a day when a successful strike was organised under the call of BPTUC.
On 7 April, Amin along with his family boarded a special train from Dakshineswar towards Gede via Ranaghat and then reached Darshana by walking 12 km across the border.
They had stayed as refugee in Dinajpur till October 1950, and had even organised a mass rally there and was subsequently warned by police.
While organising trade union in Britannia Engineering Ltd. in Titagarh, he was assisted by Suren Dhar Chowdhury, Sunil Roy, Dr. Girijamohon Chatterjee (an influential MBBS doctor).
In 1969, Amin won the assembly elections from Titagarh and in February 1970, he was made the Minister of Transport to the United Front government led by Ajoy Mukherjee.
1972 assembly elections in West Bengal can be described as a farce and a mockery of democracy as terror of unforeseen proportions were unleashed.
In 1977 assembly elections, CPI(M) won with a sweeping majority and formed the Left Front government led by Jyoti Basu.
As a minister, he had sold an eight-seated helicopter owned by the West Bengal Govt, and with that money bought double-decker buses to improve public transport in Calcutta.
He had also successfully implemented the launch & steamer service in the Hooghly Riverways whose initiative was taken in his early stint during the United Front government.
In 12th party congress at Calcutta in 1985, he was elected as a member of the Central Committee along with Anil Biswas, Biman Bose and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
However, he lost as Indian National Congress gained sympathy votes following the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
He was made a Minister of Labour to the 6th Left Front government led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee as his predecessor Shanti Ghatak became ill before the elections, and died soon after.
In 2006 assembly elections, though Left Front increased the seats & votes, yet Amin lost surprisingly from Garden Reach.
In 2007, he was elected General Secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions from the 12th Conference at Bangalore held from 17 to 21 January.
