Sudha Roy

Sudha Roy (1914[1] - 1987) was an Indian communist trade unionist and politician. She was a prominent leader of the Bengal Labour Party, the Bolshevik Party of India and later joined the Communist Party of India.[2] She was one of the most prominent female leaders of the Bengali left.[3]

Youth

Roy was born in a Kayastha landlord family in Faridpur.[1] She joined labour movement in the 1930s, having been introduced to labour politics by her brother Sisir Roy during her student days.[1][4][5][6] Alongside her brother, she became a key leader of the Bengal Labour Party when it was founded in 1933.[7]

Labour organiser

She worked as mathematics teacher at Kamala Girls School in south Calcutta between 1932 and 1958.[1][8][9] At the time she was a well-known labour leader.[8] Roy, nicknamed Bahinji ('Honoured sister') by dock workers, would pass the Kidderpore dock daily in the afternoon for union tasks.[4][8][9]

Women's movement

Roy joined the women's movement in 1943, being active in the All India Women's Conference.[1][2] Roy served as vice chair of the National Federation of Indian Women between 1954 and 1982.[1][10][11]

Electoral politics

Sudha Roy was the sole candidate of the BPI in the 1951-1952 parliamentary election.[12] She stood in Barrackpore constituency and obtained 25,792 votes (16.2% of vote in the constituency).[12]

She was jailed in 1954.[1]

Roy contested the Fort constituency in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, 1957.[13] She finished in fourth place, with 9.75% of the votes.[13]

In UTUC

In 1958 Sudha Roy's union, the Dock Mazdoor Union, underwent a split. Sisir Roy, Sudha Roy and Buthnath De were pitted against Bishwanath Dubey.[14] Whilst Roy's group constituted the majority faction, the split significantly weakened the union.[14]

Sisir Roy died in 1960, and Sudha Roy overtook his post as general secretary of the United Trade Union Congress.[15][16][17][18]

Joining CPI

At the 1965 BPI party conference Sudha Roy called for a merger between BPI and CPI.[5] The conference rejected a merger and Sudha Roy and her followers left BPI to join CPI.[5] After shifting to CPI, she joined the All India Trade Union Congress.[19]

Roy chaired the State Social Welfare Board between 1969 and 1973.[1][20] Roy founded the Mahila Sanskritik Saimmelan ('Women's Cultural Conference').[1]

Roy died in 1987.[21]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Sunil Kumar Sen (1985). The working women and popular movements in Bengal: from the Gandhi era to the present day. K.P. Bagchi. p. 96.
  2. 1 2 Maṇikuntalā Sena (1 April 2001). In search of freedom: an unfinished journey. Stree. p. 57. ISBN 978-81-85604-25-1.
  3. ↑ Sampa Guha (1996). Political Participation of Women in a Changing Society. Inter-India Publications. p. 105. ISBN 978-81-210-0344-5.
  4. 1 2 Samita Sen (6 May 1999). Women and Labour in Late Colonial India: The Bengal Jute Industry. Cambridge University Press. pp. 229–230. ISBN 978-0-521-45363-9.
  5. 1 2 3 S. N. Sadasivan (1977). Party and democracy in India. Tata McGraw-Hill. pp. 90–92.
  6. ↑ Amitabha Mukherjee (1 January 1996). Women in Indian Life and Society. Punthi Pustak and Institute of Historical Studies. p. 240. ISBN 978-81-85094-97-7.
  7. ↑ Socialist Perspective. 17. Council for Political Studies. 1989. p. 276.
  8. 1 2 3 Leela Gulati; Jasodhara Bagchi (7 April 2005). A Space of Her Own: Personal Narratives of Twelve Women. SAGE Publications. p. 232. ISBN 978-81-321-0341-7.
  9. 1 2 Labour File: A Bimonthly Journal of Labour and Economic Affairs. 5. Information and Feature Trust. 2007. p. 116.
  10. ↑ Link: Indian Newsmagazine. 16. 1974. p. 34.
  11. ↑ National Federation of Indian Women. Congress (1981*). Tenth Congress, National Federation of Indian Women, Trivandrum, December 27-30, 1980. The Federation. p. 102. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. 1 2 Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTIONS, 1951 TO THE FIRST LOK SABHA VOLUME I (NATIONAL AND STATE ABSTRACTS & DETAILED RESULTS)
  13. 1 2 Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1957 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL
  14. 1 2 Michael v. d Bogaert (1970). Trade Unionism in Indian Ports: A Case Study at Calcutta and Bombay. Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations. p. 26.
  15. ↑ Harold A. Crouch (1966). Trade Unions and Politics in India. Manaktalas. p. 233.
  16. ↑ United Trades Union Congress (1964). Report. UTUC. p. 7.
  17. ↑ The Times of India Directory and Year Book Including Who's who. Bennett, Coleman & Company. 1967. p. 528.
  18. ↑ The Call. 16. S. Bhattacharya. 1964. p. 87.
  19. ↑ Paul Francis Magnelia (1967). The International Union of Students. Peninsula Lithograph Company. p. 185.
  20. ↑ National Council of Women in India Bulletin. National Council of Women in India. 1971. p. 45.
  21. ↑ Trade Union Record. 45. All-India Trade Union Congress. 1987. p. 116.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/26/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.