Mukerjee, Hirendranath, 1907-

Hirendranath Mukhopadhyay (23 November 1907 – 30 July 2004), also known as Hiren Mukerjee, was an Indian politician, lawyer and academic. He was a member of the Communist Party of India having joined in 1936 when it was still illegal. He was elected to the Lok Sabha the lower house of the Indian Parliament from the Calcutta North East constituency in 1951, 1957, 1962, 1967 and 1971. He suffered an electoral reverse when he lost to Pratap Chandra Chunder in 1977 after the CPI supported Emergency. He was awarded the second highest civilian honour Padma Vibhushan by Government of India in 1991, earlier he was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1990. He was a profound and passionate orator in English and Bengali, and his natural eloquence was marked by a surpassing erudition and encyclopaedic memory. His speeches were also marked by a full-throated delivery, an impeccable Oxonian pronunciation in English and his Calcutta idiom and intonation in Bengali. He was known for his oratory in Parliament.