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Kanai Pal

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Kanai Pal was an Indian Trotskyist politician. A labour leader active in Santipur, West Bengal, he represented the area in the state legislature 1962–1969.

Independence struggle

As a politician, Pal was known to be self-sacrificing and sincere.[1] He was jailed a number of times.[2] Pal took part in the struggle for Indian independence and was convicted during the 1942 Quit India movement.[3] He played a leading role in sabotage action group in Nadia District.[4] In one confrontation during the August Revolution his spinal cord was badly injured.[2] He later lost a finger in police lathi charge in protest for right for refugees from the Partition of India.[2]

1952 elections and break with the RCPI

At the time of the 1951–1952 elections, Pal was a member of the Tagore faction of the Revolutionary Communist Party of India.[1] He donated all his personal belongings, estimated at 15,000 Indian rupees, to the party.[1] Pal contested the Santipur constituency in the 1952 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election on a RCPI ticket and finished in second place with 4,564 votes (21.43% of the votes in the constituency).[5] He finished in fourth place with 2,920 votes (6.9%).[6] However, Pal and his followers split away from the Tagore faction of RCPI in 1953.[1] Pal was disappointed with the lack of support from the party during his election campaign.[1] Pal's Santipur-based faction merged into the United Marxist League in 1954, which soon renamed itself as the Communist League.[1]

Pal again contested the Santipur seat in the 1957 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, this time on an independent ticket.[7] He finished in second place with 13,470 votes (36.78%).[7] In 1958 the Communist League merged into the Revolutionary Workers Party.[8] The RWP merged into the Dasgupta-led RCPI in 1960.[8]

Legislator and prisoner

Pal won the Santipur seat in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly in the 1962 and 1967 elections.[9] In 1962 he ran as an independent.[10] With 26,553 votes (53.80%) he defeated the incumbent Indian National Congress legislator Haridas De.[10] Soon after being elected, on 6 November 1962 he was jailed under the West Bengal Security Act.[3][11] He was again arrested in 1965, under the Defense of India Rules.[12] In December 1965 the Fourth International Congress elected Pal, along with other jailed Trotskyist leaders as member of its 'honorary presidium'.[13]

In 1967 he contested on a Communist Party of India (Marxist) ticket.[9] He retained the seat, obtaining 20,695 votes (47.63%).[14]

Later years

In the 1969 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election Pal ran as an independent in Santipur, against the official RCPI candidate M. Mokshed Ali.[15] He finished in third place with 3289 votes (7.15%).[15]

In the 1971 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election Pal ran as an independent in Santipur, against the official RCPI candidate Bimalananda Mukherjee.[6] He finished in fourth place with 2,920 votes (6.9%).[6] In 1972 he played a role building the Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR) in Nadia District.[16][17]

Pal died,[when?] having suffered from kidney failure, anemia, high blood pressure and paralysis.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f S. N. Sadasivan (1977). Party and democracy in India. Tata McGraw-Hill. pp. 44–45, 89.
  2. ^ a b c d Cahiers Léon Trotsky (24 ed.). Institut Léon Trotsky. 1985. p. 8.
  3. ^ a b Lok Sabha Debates. Vol. 13 (6–10 ed.). Lok Sabha Secretariat. February 1964. p. 1071.
  4. ^ Kalyan Kumar Sarkar (1988). The "Quit India" Movement in the District of Nadia. Barnali. pp. 56, 69.
  5. ^ Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1951 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL
  6. ^ a b c Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1971 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL
  7. ^ a b Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1957 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL
  8. ^ a b Alexander, Robert J.. Trotskyism in India
  9. ^ a b Communist Party of India (Marxist). West Bengal State Committee. Election results of West Bengal: statistics & analysis, 1952–1991. The Committee. pp. 416, 496.
  10. ^ a b Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1962 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL
  11. ^ Intercontinental Press. Vol. 1. Intercontinental Press. 1963.
  12. ^ The Militant. Arrest Indian Trotskyists
  13. ^ The Militant. 4th International Holds Congress
  14. ^ Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1967 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL
  15. ^ a b Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1969 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL
  16. ^ Akshayakumar Ramanlal Desai (1991). Violation of Democratic Rights in India. Popular Prakashan. p. 246. ISBN 978-81-7154-529-2.
  17. ^ Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights. About Us
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