Pramatha Ranjan Thakur
Pramatha Ranjan Thakur was elected as a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from the Hanskhali constituency in the 1962 elections as a candidate of the Indian National Congress. The seat was reserved for candidates from the Scheduled Castes.[1]
Thakur was a prominent member of the Namasudra community, whose great-grandfather, Harichand Thakur (1811/12-1878), had founded the Hindu religious sect called Matua Mahasangha. The sect, which was further developed by Pramatha's grandfather, Guruchand Thakur, became a focal point for the Namasudra community's efforts for social upliftment and by the 1930s Pramatha had become its head.[2] The Namasudras had been historically considered an untouchable community.[3]
In 1933, he married Binapani Devi Thakur.
References
- ^ "General Elections, India, 1962, to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal" (PDF). Constituency-wise Data. Election Commission.
- ^ Bhandyopadhyay, Sekhar; Chaudhury, Anasua Basu Ray (2015). "Partition, Displacement, and the Decline of the Scheduled Caste Movement in West Bengal". In Chandra, Uday; Heierstad, Geir; Nielsen, Kenneth Bo (eds.). The Politics of Caste in West Bengal. Routledge. pp. 75–79. ISBN 978-1-31741-477-3.
- ^ Sinharay, Praskanva (2015). "Building Up the Harichand-Guruchand Movement: The Politics of the Matua Mahansgha". In Chandra, Uday; Heierstad, Geir; Nielsen, Kenneth Bo (eds.). The Politics of Caste in West Bengal. Routledge. pp. 152–153. ISBN 978-1-31741-477-3.