All India Forward Bloc: Difference between revisions

{{distinguish|All India Forward Bloc (Subhasist)}}  

| chairman     = N. Velappan Nair

| alliance    = [[Left Front (West Bengal)|Left Front]] <br/> {{small|([[West Bengal]])}} <br/>

[[United Democratic Front (Kerala)|United Democratic Front]] <br/> {{small|([[Kerala]])}}

| state_seats_name = [[West Bengal Legislative Assembly]]

| state_seats  = {{Composition bar|2|294|hex=#FF0000}}

| ideology    = [[Left-wing nationalism]]<br>[[Socialism]]<br>[[Anti-Imperialism]]<br>[[Marxism]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forwardbloc.org/ideology-of-netaji/|title=Party constitution|publisher=All India Forward Bloc|access-date=22 April 2017|location=India|year=2017}}</ref>

| position    = [[Left-wing]]

| colours      = Red {{Colorsample|#ff0000}}

| publication  = ''Towards Socialism'', ''Jangarjan'', ''Lokmat''

|colorcode = red

The '''All India Forward Bloc''' ('''AIFB''') is a left-wing nationalist political party in [[India]]. It emerged as a faction within the [[Indian National Congress]] in 1939, led by [[Subhas Chandra Bose]]. The party re-established as an independent political party after the independence of India. It has its main stronghold in [[West Bengal]]. The party's current Secretary-General is [[Debabrata Biswas (politician)|Debabrata Biswas]]. Veteran Indian politicians [[Sarat Chandra Bose]] (brother of Subhas Chandra Bose) and [[Chitta Basu (politician)|Chitta Basu]] had been the stalwarts of the party in independent India.

The '''Forward Bloc''' of the [[Indian National Congress]] was formed on May 3, 1939 by Netaji [[Subhas Chandra Bose]] in Makur [[Unnao]] , [[Uttar Pradesh]], who had resigned from the presidency of the Indian National Congress on 29 April after being outmanoeuvered by [[Mahatma Gandhi|Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi]]. The formation of the Forward Bloc was announced to the public at a rally in [[Calcutta]]. Bose said that who all were joining, they had to never turn their back to the British and must fill the [[Oath|pledge]] form by cutting their finger and signing it with their blood. First of all, seventeen young girls came up and signed the pledge form. Initially the aim of the Forward Bloc was to rally all the leftwing sections within the Congress and develop an alternative leadership inside the Congress. Bose became the president of the Forward Bloc and [[S.S. Cavesheer]] its vice-president. A Forward Bloc Conference was held in [[Bombay]] in the end of June. At that conference the constitution and programme of the Forward Bloc were approved.<ref>Ghosh, Asok (ed.), ''A Short History of the All India Forward Bloc''. Kolkata: Bengal Lokmat Printers Pvt Ltd., 2001. pp. 29–30</ref> In July 1939 Subhas Chandra Bose announced the Committee of the Forward Bloc. It had Subhas Chandra Bose as president, S.S. Kavishar from [[Punjab, India|Punjab]] as its vice-president, Lal Shankarlal from [[Delhi]], as its general secretary and [[Vishwambhar Dayalu Tripathi]] and [[Khurshed Nariman]] from Bombay as secretaries. Other prominent members were Annapurniah from [[Andhra Pradesh]], Senapati Bapat, Hari Vishnu Kamnath from Bombay, Pasumpon [[U. Muthuramalingam Thevar]] from Tamil Nadu and [[Sheel Bhadra Yagee]] from [[Bihar]]. Satya Ranjan Bakshi, was appointed as the secretary of the Bengal Provincial Forward Bloc.<ref name = "Banglapedia">{{cite book |last=Misra |first=Chitta Ranjan |year=2012 |chapter=Forward Bloc |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Forward_Bloc |editor1-last=Islam |editor1-first=Sirajul |editor1-link=Sirajul Islam |editor2-last=Jamal |editor2-first=Ahmed A. |title=Banglapedia: National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh |edition=Second |publisher=[[Asiatic Society of Bangladesh]]}}</ref>

The Bloc held its 2nd All India Conference in [[Arrah]], [[Bihar, India|Bihar]] on 12–14 January 1947. S.S. Cavesheer (a leading member of the Subhasist sector) was elected president and [[Sheel Bhadra Yagee]] (a leading member of the Marxist sector) was elected general secretary.<ref>Ghosh, Asok (ed.), ''A Short History of the All India Forward Bloc''. Kolkata: Bengal Lokmat Printers Pvt Ltd., 2001. p. 55</ref>

Following [[Independence of India|Independence]] and [[Partition of India|Partition]], the party national council met in [[Varanasi]] February 1948. The national council meeting was also preceded by a decision of the Indian National Congress in the beginning of the year to expel all dissenting tendencies within the Congress, including the Forward Bloc. Thus the party decided to renounce any links with the Congress once and for all, and reconstruct itself as an independent opposition party.<ref>Bose, K.; ''Forward Bloc''. Madras: 1988, Tamil Nadu Academy of Political Science. p. 85</ref> Moreover, it passed a resolution that the party be divided into a Forward Bloc for India and a Forward Bloc for the new nation of Pakistan. This would soon prove to be very controversial. The general secretary Yagee did, in line with the Varanasi resolution, dissolve the [[Bengal]] committee of the Forward Bloc and set-up ''ad hoc'' committees for [[West Bengal]] and [[East Bengal]]. Now the division between 'Marxists' and 'Subhasists' resurfaced. The 'Subhasists', and [[S. S. Cavesheer]] in particular, criticised Yagee's actions.<ref>Notably, the Forward Bloc faction led by Ruiker and Cavesheer was the last group in the West Bengal left to raise the slogan of a united Bengal. Ahead of the 1952 general election, the Ruiker-led Forward Bloc called for "a Bengali Union of Socialist Republics ... a people's state unifying all shades of difference and autonomy in a federal government." {{cite journal|jstor=2642957|title=Communism and Regional Politics in East Pakistan|first=Marcus F.|last=Franda|journal=Asian Survey|volume=10|issue=7|pages=588–606|doi=10.2307/2642957|year=1970}}</ref>

In the 1971 Lok Sabha election, the Forward Bloc launched 24 candidates around the country. Two were elected, P.K. Mookiah Thevar from Ramanthapuram<ref>Thevar got 208 431 votes (58.16%), defeating the [[Congress(O)]] candidate S. Balakrishnan. [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/LS_1971/Vol_I_LS71.pdf  ECI Statistical Report 1971] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616182735/http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/LS_1971/Vol_I_LS71.pdf |date=16 June 2007 }}.</ref> and [[Jambuwantrao Dhote]] from Nagpur.<ref>Dhote got 125 552 (37.09%). He was challenged by four other candidates, including [[A.B. Bardhan]] of the CPI who got around 10%. [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/LS_1971/Vol_I_LS71.pdf  ECI Statistical Report 1971] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616182735/http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/LS_1971/Vol_I_LS71.pdf |date=16 June 2007 }}.</ref> The party contested 3 seats in the interior of [[Maharashtra]], where it performed well. Dhote, who was then known as ''Vidarbha ka Sher'' (the Lion of Vidarbha), had joined the Forward Bloc and campaigned for a separate [[Vidarbha]] state with the Forward Bloc as his platform. Dhote was hugely popular in the region at the time, and could draw crowds of hundreds of thousands to his meetings.<ref name="maharashtra">As mentioned the party won the Nagpur seat. Moreover it came second in the [[Ramtek]] (14.32%) and Yeotmal (44.69%, also with Dhote as the candidate) constituencies. [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/LS_1971/Vol_I_LS71.pdf ECI Statistical Report 1971] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616182735/http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/LS_1971/Vol_I_LS71.pdf |date=16 June 2007 }}.</ref><ref name = "Hindu 2006-03-16">[http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/03/16/stories/2004031606700300.htm  The Hindu 16 March 2004] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071202050313/http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/03/16/stories/2004031606700300.htm |date=2 December 2007 }}.</ref><ref name = "Rediff 2004-10-12">[http://www.rediff.com/election/2004/oct/12vidarbha.htm Rediff] 12 October 2006.</ref>

Just before the 2006 Tamil Nadu legislative election, the party was joined by the actor [[Karthik (actor)|Karthik]]. Karthik was given the post of president of the Tamil Nadu state unit by the national party leadership and was put in charge of the election campaign of the party in the state. The party decided to contest a large number of seats without joining either of the two major political blocs in Tamil Nadu. The appointment of Karthik as the new leader of the state unit provoked the sole Forward Bloc legislator and secretary of the state unit, [[L. Santhanam]], to leave the party.<ref>L. Santhanam had argued that the party should take part in the election as an ally of [[All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam]] (AIADMK). After his departure from the party, the AIADMK allotted one seat for him to contest in the election.  [http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/06/stories/2006020611660100.htm  Hindu] 6 February 2006.</ref><ref name = "Telegraph">[http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060109/asp/nation/story_5698556.asp  Telegraph India].</ref> In the election the party lost its representation in the assembly. A few months later the party leadership expelled Karthik on the grounds of 'anti-party activities'.<ref>According to the national party leadership, Karthik had failed to turn up for Central Committee meetings and had generally acted on his own. Moreover he had been accused of nepotism by sections of the Tamil Nadu unit.  [http://www.keralaglobal.com/news/readFullNews.php?ID=82174&cat=CHENNAI  Chennai], Kerala Global.</ref><ref name = "New Kerala">[http://www.newkerala.com/news4.php?action=fullnews&id=26691  New Kerala].</ref>

In the 2007 [[Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly|assembly]] [[2007 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election|election, 2007]] in [[Uttar Pradesh]] AIFB launched three candidate, Ram Lakhan in Bisalpur (732 votes, 0.51% of the votes in the constituency), Samar Singh in [[Fatehpur Sikri (Assembly constituency)|Fatehpur Sikri]] (870 votes, 0.69%) and Jabar Singh in Hastinapur (503 votes, 0.42%).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://archive.eci.gov.in/May2007/pollupd/ac/candlwc/s24/s24aifbacnst.htm#s24 |title=Archived copy |access-date=11 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930070624/http://archive.eci.gov.in/May2007/pollupd/ac/candlwc/s24/s24aifbacnst.htm#s24 |archive-date=30 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

AIFB has a small state unit in Haryana. The chairman of Haryana state committee is Naveen Antil. In the 2005 election to the Haryana legislative assembly AIFB ran a single candidate, Mukhtiar Singh Kaushik in the Nilokheri constituency. Kaushik got 442 votes (0.44%).<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/SE_2005/StatisticalReports_HR_2005.pdf |title=ECI |access-date=18 July 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070616182713/http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/SE_2005/StatisticalReports_HR_2005.pdf |archive-date=16 June 2007 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

In [[Andhra Pradesh]] the party had significant presence during the 1950s, but then declined sharply. In 2005 the party took an initiative to revive its Andhra Pradesh State Committee.<ref>[http://www.hindu.com/2006/05/09/stories/2006050920600500.htm The Hindu, 9 May 2006].</ref><ref name = "Hindu 2005-07-19">[http://www.hindu.com/2005/07/19/stories/2005071916690500.htm The Hindu, 19 July 2005].</ref>