Gherao, meaning "encirclement", is a word which denotes a tactic used by labour activists and union leaders in India; it is similar to picketing. Usually, a group of people would surround a politician or a government building until their demands are met, or answers given. [1] This principle was introduced as a formal means of protest in the labour sector by Subodh Banerjee, the PWD and Labor Minister in the 1967 and 1969 United Front Governments of West Bengal, respectively. [2] [3]
Owing to its popularity, the word “gherao” was added to the Concise Oxford English Dictionary in 2004. Page 598 has the entry: “Gherao: n (pl. gheraos). Indian; a protest in which workers prevent employers leaving a place of work until demands are met; Origin: From Hindi” and Subodh Banerjee was referred to as the Gherao minister. [4]
Gherao was being used by farmers against government buildings in the 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest. [5]
Jyoti Basu was an Indian Marxist theorist, communist activist, and politician. He was one of the most prominent leaders of Communist movement in India. He served as the 6th and longest serving Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1977 to 2000. He was one of the founding members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He was the member of Politburo of the party since its formation in 1964 till 2008. He was also the member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly 11 times. In his political career, spanning over seven decades, he was noted to have been the India's longest serving chief minister in an elected democracy, at the time of his resignation. He declined the post of Prime Minister after the 1996 Indian general election after the CPM refused to let him head a multi-party coalition as would not be able to implement Marxist programs and relinquished the prime ministership to Deve Gowda.
Mamata Banerjee is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current chief minister of the Indian state of West Bengal since 20 May 2011, the first woman to hold the office. Having served multiple times as a Union Cabinet Minister, Mamata Banerjee became the Chief Minister of West Bengal for the first time in 2011. She founded the All India Trinamool Congress in 1998 after separating from the Indian National Congress, and became its second chairperson later in 2001. She is often referred to as Didi.
Hartal is a term in many Indian languages for a strike action that was first used during the Indian independence movement of the early 20th century. A hartal is a mass protest, often involving a total shutdown of workplaces, offices, shops, and courts of law, and a form of civil disobedience similar to a labour strike. In addition to being a general strike, it involves the voluntary closure of schools and places of business. It is a mode of appealing to the sympathies of a government to reverse an unpopular or unacceptable decision. A hartal is often used for political reasons, for example by an opposition party protesting against a governmental policy or action.
SirSurendranath Banerjee, often known as Rashtraguru was Indian nationalist leader during the British Rule. He founded a nationalist organization called the Indian National Association to bring Hindus and Muslims together for political action. He was one of the founding members of the Indian National Congress. Surendranath supported Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms, unlike Congress, and with many liberal leaders he left Congress and founded a new organisation named Indian National Liberation Federation in 1919.
The Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) or SUCI(C) is an anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist communist party in India. The party was founded by Shibdas Ghosh, Nihar Mukherjee and others in 1948.
Mukul Roy is an Indian politician from West Bengal. He has also served as a Minister of State in the Shipping Ministry and later Ministry of Railways during the second UPA government. Before the creation of Trinamool Congress, he was a member of Indian National Congress. Between 2017 and 2021, Roy left Trinamool Congress to join Bharatiya Janata Party. In 2021, he left BJP and joined TMC.
The United Front was a political coalition in West Bengal, India, formed shortly after the 1967 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election. It was conceived on 25 February 1967, through the joining of the United Left Front and the People's United Left Front, along with other parties. Soon after its formation, a massive rally was held in Calcutta, at which an 18-point programme of the Front was presented. Ajoy Mukherjee, leader of the Bangla Congress, was the head of the United Front.
The Workers and Peasants Party (WPP) (also known as the Kirti Kisan Party) was a political party in India, which worked inside the Indian National Congress in 1925–1929. It became an important front organisation for the Communist Party of India and an influential force in the Bombay labour movement. The party was able to muster some success in making alliances with other left elements inside the Congress Party, amongst them Jawaharlal Nehru. However, as the Communist International entered its 'Third Period' phase, the communists deserted the WPP project. The WPP was wound up, as its leadership was arrested by the British authorities in March 1929.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) is a registered unrecognized political party, that campaigns for the creation of a separate state Gorkhaland within India, out of districts in the north of West Bengal. The party was launched on 7 October 2007. The faction led by Binay Tamang, which was created out of Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in 2017, merged into Gurung's GJM in 2021 after Tamang's resignation, following which he joined Trinamool Congress.
The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) is an Indian farmers' organization that is politically linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. BKS was founded by Dattopant Thengadi in 1978. As of 2000, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh claimed BKS had a quarter million members, organized in 11,000 villages and 301 districts across the country. The organization is dominated by landed gentry.
Subodh Banerjee was an Indian politician, belonging to the Socialist Unity Centre of India. He introduced the Gherao principle as a formal mode of protest in the trade union sector of India while being the Labour Minister in the 1967 United Front Government in West Bengal. He was the PWD minister in the 1969 United Front Government of West Bengal. His lasting contribution was the removal of all statutes of "guardians and rulers" of the British Indian empire from public places in Kolkata. However, he appreciated the artistic value of many of them and stored them in some other public places not in the public view. He was called the Gherao minister and was recognised both by his friends and detractors as a 'scrupulously honest minister and a firebrand labour leader with incendiary oratorical skill'.
The Tata Nano Singur controversy was a controversy generated by land acquisition of a proposed Tata Motors automobile factory at Singur in Hooghly district, West Bengal, India. The factory would have been used to build the compact car Tata Nano.
The Saradha Group financial scandal was a major political scandal caused by the collapse of a Ponzi scheme run by Saradha Group, a consortium of over 200 private companies that was believed to be running collective investment schemes popularly but incorrectly referred to as chit funds in Eastern India.
On 16 September 2014, peaceful demonstrations by students took place in front of the administrative building of the University, demanding an investigation into the alleged molestation of a female student in campus. After several unsuccessful attempts at dialogue with the authorities, the students gheraoed some personnel of the university authority, including Vice-Chancellor Abhijit Chakrabarti. The vice-chancellor called the police, who dispersed the students by force in the early hours of 17 September. This triggered a wave of protests by students and teachers.
Krishnapada Ghosh (1914–1987) was an Indian politician and trade unionist. He served as West Bengal Minister of Labour 1969–1970 and 1977–1985. He was a Central Committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He was also a member of the Working Committee of the Centre for Indian Trade Unions.
The Second Ajoy Mukherjee ministry was the coalition government that ruled the Indian state of West Bengal for 13 months, 1969–1970. The Second United Front Cabinet was formed after the 1967 First United Front Cabinet had been dismissed in 1967, President's Rule introduced and a mid-term election held in 1969. The United Front got a renewed popular mandate in the 1969 election, with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) calling the shots but with a non-leftist Chief Minister. The 13-month reign of the Second United Front Cabinet was marked by the struggle for comprehensive land reform, labour disputes, political violence and coalition infighting.
Jagdeep Dhankhar is an Indian politician and lawyer, serving as the 14th and current vice president of India since 2022. He previously served as the Governor of West Bengal from 2019 to 2022. He also served as a Union Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs in the Chandra Shekhar ministry from 1990 to 1991. He was a member of Lok Sabha from 1989 to 1991 and later a Member of Rajasthan Legislative Assembly from 1993 to 1998. He has also been affiliated with multiple political parties in India, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, Indian National Congress and Janata Dal.
On 11 June 2019, following the assault of two junior doctors at Nil Ratan Sircar Medical College and Hospital (NRSMCH) the previous night, junior doctors in Kolkata began protesting and demanded that the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee, should intervene and provide adequate security to medical professionals. The protests caused a collapse of healthcare facilities in the state. Protests continued through 13 June, despite attempts at mediation, resulting in the chief minister issuing an ultimatum to the protesting doctors. The doctors ignored the ultimatum, asking the government to meet their demands for security and for the chief minister to give them a public apology.
Elections were held in Indian state of West Bengal in February 1969 to elect 280 members to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. United Front formed the government with Ajoy Mukherjee as the Chief Minister. United Front won a landslide 214 seats and 49.7% of the votes.