All India Forward Bloc: Difference between revisions

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. Kavishar]] 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>

Inside India, local activists of the Forward Bloc continued the anti-British activities without central co-ordination. For example, in Bihar members were involved in the [[Azad Dasta]] resistance groups, and distributed propaganda in support of Bose and [[Indian National Army]]. They did not have, however, any organic link either with Bose nor the INA.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=312891|title=Land and Power: The Marxist Conquest of Rural Bengal|first=Arild Engelsen|last=Ruud|date=1 January 1994|doi=10.1017/s0026749x00012440|journal=Modern Asian Studies|volume=28|issue=2|pages=357–380}}</ref>

The Ahead of the 1946 assembly elections the ban on the Bloc was lifted in June that year. The Working Committee of the Forward Bloc met on 10 June.<ref>The members of the Working Committee at the time were Subhas Chandra Bose (Sr. Founder President), S.S. Cavesheer (President), [[R.S. Ruikar]] (Vice-President), [[Sheel Bhadra Yagee]] (Vice-President), [[Hari Vishnu Kamath]] (general secretary), Mukundalal Sarkar (Secretary), Vishwanbhar Dayal Tripathi (Secretary), Prof. Bidesh Kulkarni (Secretary), Rajmannar Chity (Secretary), Satyanarayan Bajaj (Treasurer), Mian Akber Shah, Alim T. Gidwani, Lala Shankarlal, Ramgati Ganguly, Mathura Prasad Misra, Lila Roy, Harendra Nath Ghosh, [[Ashrafuddin Ahmad Chowdhury]], A.M.A. Zaman, Satyanarayan Bakshim, Kusum Ranjan Chowdhury, Senapati M.P. Bapat, H.J. Khandekar, V.V. Subedar, Dr. S.G. Patwardhan, B.P. Bappaya, U. Muthuramalingam Thevar, R.A. Mandgi, Giridhar Thakkar, K.N. Joglekar, Ram Bhaw Nishel and Sardar Niranjan Singh Talib. Ghosh, Asok (ed.), ''A Short History of the All India Forward Bloc''. Kolkata: Bengal Lokmat Printers Pvt Ltd., 2001. pp. 43–5.</ref>

In July 1969, violent clashes erupted in [[West Dinajpur district]], West Bengal, between peasants aligned with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and [[East Pakistan]]i refugee cultivators, who supported the Forward Bloc. CPI(M) leader [[Hare Krishna Konar]] characterised the events as a degeneration of the agrarian struggles in rural West Bengal.<ref>{{cite journal|jstor=312548|title=Azad Dastas and Dacoit Gangs: The Congress and Underground Activity in Bihar, 1942–44|first=Vinita|last=Damodaran|date=1 January 1992|journal=Modern Asian Studies|volume=26|issue=3|pages=417–450|doi=10.1017/s0026749x00009859}}</ref>

After having contested the 1972 elections on its own, the Forward Bloc decided to join a 'United Front' led by the communist parties in Tripura.<ref>The front had been formed by CPI(M) and CPI on 2 November 1973. AIFB and the [[Revolutionary Socialist Party (India)|RSP]] joined the front on 14 November.</ref> The front demanded clear-cut policies for procurement and distribution of food grains, stop to sprilalling prices of essential commodities, a land reform legislation for [[delimitation]] of Tribal reserve areas and creation of employments opportunities for the unemployed. A 24-hour Tripura [[Bandh]] was organised by the front on 16 December. On 3 May 1974 the four parties organised a 12-hour Tripura Bandh.<ref>Basu, Pradip Kumar; ''The Communist Movement in Tripura'', Calcutta: Progressive Publishers, 1996. pp. 146, 149.</ref>

#Sardul Singh Kaveesher (1947)

#[[P.K. Mookiah Thevar]] (1979)

#[[K.N. Joglekar]] (1948)

===Vice President===