United Communist Party of India

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United Communist Party of India
AbbreviationUCPI
General SecretarySukhinder Singh Dhaliwal [1]
FoundedMay 1989
Merger of All India Communist Party
Indian Communist Party
All India Communist Co-ordination Committee
Headquarters29/116, Gali No.10, Vishwas Nagar, Shahadra, Delhi-110 032 [2]
Ideology Communism
Political position Left-wing
Alliance Confederation of Indian Communists and Democratic Socialists [3]

The United Communist Party of India (UCPI) is a political party in India. The party was founded in May 1989 through the merger of splinter-groups of the Communist Party of India (CPI), representing the most right-wing tendency of the Indian communist movement. The UCPI supported united front with the Congress-I. The founding leaders of the party were veteran communist leaders S.A. Dange and Mohit Sen. The party had one representative in the Lok Sabha (lower house of the parliament of India), D. Pandian, and held one seat in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly 1989-1996. D. Pandian returned to CPI in 2000, and the influence of UCPI dwindled in later years.

Contents

December 1988 Bombay conference

A party unity conference was held in Bombay 21-22 December 1988, at which the All India Communist Party (AICP, a party founded in 1980 and mainly based in Bombay, led by S.A. Dange who had broken with CPI for abandoning its United Front policy for alliance with the Congress-I), Indian Communist Party (ICP, a 1987 splinter group of CPI in Tamil Nadu) and the All India Communist Co-ordination Committee (whose convenor was Mohit Sen). [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] The conference agreed that the parties would merge into a single party, called the Communist Party, with S.A. Dange as chairman and Sen as general secretary. [6] [7] Roza Deshpande, Ramesh Sinha, D. Pandian and K.M. Sundaram were elected secretaries of the new party. [5]

Sen spoke at a press conference on 23 December 1988 in Bombay, stating that the new party would be a party of 'communist renewal'. [5] Sen argued that the governing National Front and Janata Dal were reactionary communal forces seeking to divide the country. [5] Sen outlined four objective of the new party - to attack imperialist forces, unity with Congress-I against anti-democratic forces, unity of progressive communist parties and agreement with the Soviet polices of glasnost and perestroika . [5]

In January 1989, during the campaigning for the 1989 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, Sen stated that the party would not be seen as a new party but a continuation of the Communist Party of India founded in Kanpur in 1925. [10] He stated that the merger of the three parties would be formalized at a party conference in Tamil Nadu in April or May 1989. [10] Sen argued for opposition to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), as DMK was in the National Front and thus a reactionary force. [10] One of the ICP candidates, N. Nanjappan, won the Pennagaram seat of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. [11]

May 1989 Salem conference

The party merger conference was held 25-30 May 1989 in Salem. [12] [13] The ICP acted as the hosts for the conference. Some one thousand delegates attended the conference, claiming to represent 100,000 party members. [12] Delegates came from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Goa, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. [12] Most of the delegates were in the age range 35-60 years, but conference organizers claimed that one third of delegates were below 35 years (with 150 delegates in the age range 18-25 years). [12] There were also veterans from the CPI from the pre-Independence period. CPI(M) dissidents participated in the Salem conference as fraternal delegates. [12] Sen held an hour-long inaugural speech at the Salem conference, arguing that the October Revolution had resulted in the foundation of CPI in 1925 and that the new party was being founded the in the era of glasnost and the perestroika (which Sen framed as a 'second October Revolution'). [12] The merged party took the name United Communist Party of India. Dange was elected chairman, Sen general secretary. [13]

The UCPI placed itself to the right of CPI. [9] The party called for National Democratic Revolution by non-violent means, striving to build a patriotic front. [4] UCPI pleaded to the main communist parties, the CPI and the CPI(M), not to align with the 'forces of right reaction and counter-revolution'. [4] UCPI favoured cooperation with the Congress-I, arguing that it represented the national bourgeoisie. [4] UCPI had a pro-Soviet, albeit pro-perestroika outlook. [4]

The new party had its main strength in Tamil Nadu (primarily in industrial pockets). [14] [9] It also some support in industrial pockets in Bombay. [9] The party led some splinter trade unions. [15] T.K. Varghese Vaidyan  [ ml ] became the main organiser of UCPI in Kerala. [16]

1989-1990 elections

In November 1989 parliamentary election, D. Pandian was elected to the Lok Sabha (lower house of the parliament of India) contesting on the Congress-I election symbol in the Madras North constituency. [11] [17] D. Pandian obtained 445,197 votes (54.84%). [17]

UPCI fielded five candidates in the February 1990 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, whom together got 17,211 votes. [18] UCPI fielded a single candidate in the February 1990 Orissa Legislative Assembly election - UCPI candidate Jogendra Prasad Das finished in second place in the Balasore constituency with 7,213 votes (8.01%), trailing behind CPI candidate Arun Dey won obtained 86.56% of the votes. [19]

Following the 20 June 1990 killing of 13 EPRLF cadres in Madras, UCPI leader D. Pandian joined opposition in parties demanding the resignation of the DMK state government, holding the state government responsible for the killings. [20] In August 1990 UCPI joined the AIADMK-led Democratic Progressive Front. [21] In November 1990 UCPI welcomed the fall of the V.P. Singh government at the national level, and formation of Chandra Shekhar ministry. [22]

1991 elections

Ahead of the 1991 parliamentary election and Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election held in parallel, UCPI had not been allocated seats to contest by the Congress-I as of mid-April 1991. [11] UCPI had asked party members wanting to stand as candidates to file their nominations, and that decisions on whether contest or not would be taken at a later stage. [11] On 23 April 1991 UCPI announced that it would field six Legislative Assembly candidates in Coimbatore district, despite the fact that the party had not been allocated any seats by the Congress-I/AIADMK front. [23] UCPI contested one seat in the April 24, 1991 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election under its own symbol, as part of the Congress-I-led alliance. [24] [25] [26] UCPI candidate Satya Bosal in the Chandrakona constituency finished in second place with 40,806 votes (36.21%). [26]

In the end Congress-I allocated one Lok Sabha seat to UCPI, with D. Pandian standing for re-election in Madras North constituency. [27] [28] During the electoral campaign, on 21 May 1991 D. Pandian accompanied Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at a campaign meeting in Sriperumbudur, acting as the translator of Gandhi's speech into Tamil language. [14] D. Pandian was severely injured in the bomb blast that killed Gandhi. [29] [30]

The next day UCPI founder Dange died, at the age of 91 years. [31] A non-religious state funeral was held for him. [32] Tens of thousands of workers joined the funeral procession in Bombay. [31]

D. Pandian was re-elected to the Lok Sabha, obtaining 400,454 votes (54.61%) and defeating 23 other candidates in Madras North. [33] In the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, one UCPI candidate won a seat (S.V. Shanmugam  [ ta ], contesting the Madurai West seat). [34] [35] [36] [37] S.V. Shanmugam obtained 59,586 votes (63.35%), contesting on the Congress-I election symbol. [38] UCPI had fielded three candidates in the 1991 Kerala Legislative Assembly election, obtaining a total of 1,344 votes. [39]

1992 Punjab elections

UCPI fielded a single candidate in the February 1992 Punjab Legislative Assembly election. Baldev Singh Ballamgarh won the Malout seat, obtaining 14,442 votes (36.96%) and defeating the Congress-I candidate Shiv Chand. [40]

April 1992 Guntur conference

UCPI held a national party conference in Guntur April 25-28, 1992. [41] The conference adopted a resolution demanding a ban imposed on the LTTE. [41] Another resolution called on the national government to resolve the Cauvery water dispute by linking the Mahanadi, Godavari, Cauvery, Krishna and Vaigai rivers. [41] The party was now led by D. Pandian as party chairman and Sen as general secretary. [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] V. Rajamohan served as the assistant party secretary. [46] [47] As of the mid-1990s N. Nanjappan was the president of the UCPI Tamil Nadu state unit. [48]

Babri Masjid demolition and split in UCPI

In the wake of the 6 December 1992 demolition of the Babri Masjid, UCPI endorsed a ban on communal organisations. [42] D. Pandian hailed the position of CPI, CPI(M) and other left parties on the issue, and called on Congress-I to rally other secular forces whilst cautioning the Congress-I on the potential implications of the implementation of the ban. [42] The position on banning communal organisations would provoke a split with the UCPI. Roza Deshpande supported the Babri Masjid demolition and similar movements in Kashi and Mathura. She criticised the ban on the RSS, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal, and the arrest of L.K. Advani. [49] In January 1993 the UCPI Central Committee expelled Roza Deshpande from the party. [49] Soon thereafter, the UCPI Central Committee took disciplinary actions against the Bombay unit of the party, for not having expelled Roza Deshpande's husband Bani. [49] The Bihar, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh units of the party rejected the expulsions and dissolved in protest. [49]

Confederation of splinter groups

On 20 March 1993 UCPI took part in a meeting in Thiruvanathapuram, organised by the Communist Marxist Party where six CPI and CPI(M) splinter-groups formed a joint All India confederation. [50] Mohit Sen was named as one of the five convenors of the Confederation. [50] D. Pandian took part in the meeting. [50]

Split in Punjab

On 10 April 1993 a meeting in Muktsar passed a resolution calling for the merger of the Punjab UCPI state unit with the Congress-I. A conference held in Talwandi Sabo, chaired by Sardar Beant Singh (Chief Minister, Leader of the Congress Legislature Party in the Punjab Legislative Assembly and President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress-I Committee) endorse the decision to merge the UCPI state unit into Congress-I. On 15 July 1993 the sole UCPI Member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly Baldev Singh Ballamgarh requested to be recognised as part of the Congress-I Legislature Party. His request was endorsed by Sardar Beant Singh, as the head of the Punjab Pradesh Congress-I Committee. On 16 July 1993 Deputy Speaker (acting as the Speaker) Romesh Chander Dogra approved the merger of the erstwhile UCPI legislator into the Congress-I Legislature Party. [51]

1993 by-polls and Mandal issue

In the run-up to the 20 September 1993 Tamil Nadu by-elections, UCPI opposed the calls to unseat the AIADMK-led state government. [52] The UCPI called for reviving the Congress-I/AIADMK-led Progressive Democratic Front. [52] The party welcomed the national government decision to implement the Mandal Commission recommendations, urging the government to begin implementing the 27 percent quota for Backward Castes. [53]

D. Pandian breaking with UCPI

D. Pandian ran for re-election in Madras North in the 1996 parliamentary elections, again contesting on the Congress election symbol. He finished in second place with 169,431 votes (20.04%). [54] In the 1998 parliamentary election, UCPI was part of the Congress-I-led front in Tamil Nadu. [55] D. Pandian contested on a Congress symbol in the Madurai seat - he obtained 17,507 votes (2.66%). [56] UCPI fielded a single candidate on its on symbol in the 1998 parliamentary elections, P.K. Pattabiraman obtained 10,018 votes (1.61%) in the Dharampuri constituency. [56] D. Pandian rejoined the CPI in 2000. [30]

Later years

Sukhinder Singh Dhaliwal Comrade Sukhinder Singh Dhaliwal.jpg
Sukhinder Singh Dhaliwal

Mohit Sen died on 3 May 2003. [57] As of 2004, Sukhinder Singh Dhaliwal was the All India general secretary of the party. [58] He had previously been the president of the UCPI Punjab state unit. [59] [60] Ahead of the 2004 parliamentary election, the UCPI Punjab unit resolved to support Congress and CPI candidates, seeking to defeat the Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP combine. [58] [61] UCPI fielded a single candidate in the 2009 parliamentary election, Anand in Banda constituency (who got 1,713 votes). [62] The party fielded three candidates in the 2014 parliamentary election, whom together obtained 6,472 votes. [63]

References

  1. ↑ "Amarinder tries to forge an alliance". The Hindu. 18 October 2016.
  2. ↑ "Non Submission of Financial/Periodical Reports of 279 LIVE RUPPs as on 15.01.2024" (PDF). Chief Election Officer, Delhi.
  3. ↑ "The Hindu : Kerala News : Briefly". www.hindu.com. Archived from the original on 1 March 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Bell, David Scott.  Communist and Marxist parties of the world . Longman, 1990. pp. 296-297
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Dange to head new party". The Indian Express. 24 December 1988. p. 9.
  6. 1 2 Indian Communism: Life and Work of S.A. Dange . Patriot Publishers, 1992. p. 23
  7. 1 2 New communist party formed, in Summary of World Broadcasts: The Far East. Part III . Monitoring Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation, 1988. p. B-17
  8. ↑ "'National Front anti-national'". The Indian Express. 26 November 1988. p. 4.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Yearbook on International Communist Affairs 1990: Parties and Revolutionary Movements . Hoover Institution Press, 1990. p. 205
  10. 1 2 3 "'TN interests safe in hands of Cong-I'". The Indian Express. 12 January 1989. p. 3.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "UCPI demands 'due' share". The Indian Express. 22 April 1991. p. 3.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Link, June 11, 1989 . United India Periodicals, 1989. p. 8
  13. 1 2 Biblio East . Commission of European Communities Central Library, 1990. p. 56
  14. 1 2 Sen, Mohit.  A Traveller and the Road: The Journey of an Indian Communist . Rupa & Company, 2003. pp. 459, 477
  15. ↑ Rajimwale, Anil, et al.  Oral History Documentation of Indian Labour Movement . V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, 2003. p. 37
  16. ↑ Ramachandran Nair, K..  The History of Trade Union Movement in Kerala . Kerala Institute of Labour and Employment, 2006. p. 104
  17. 1 2 "Statistical Report on General Elections, 1989 to the Ninth Lok Sabha - Volume I (National and State Abstracts & Detailed Results)" (PDF). Election Commission of India .
  18. ↑ "Statistical Report on General Election, 1990 to the Legislative Assembly of Bihar" (PDF). Election Commission of India .
  19. ↑ "Statistical Report on General Election, 1990 to the Legislative Assembly of Orissa" (PDF). Election Commission of India .
  20. ↑ "Opposition demands CM's resignation". The Indian Express. 21 June 1990. p. 6.
  21. ↑ "Leaders confer at Jayalalitha's house". The Indian Express. 14 August 1990. p. 3.
  22. ↑ "'VP's exit is victory for the nation'". The Indian Express. 19 November 1990. p. 4.
  23. ↑ "AIADMK 'rebel' to enter fray in Thondamuthur". The Indian Express. 24 April 1991. p. 3.
  24. ↑ Dasgupta, Surajit Kumar, Surajit̲a.  West Bengal's Jyoti Basu: A Political Profile . Gian Publishing House, 1992. p. 182
  25. ↑ Election Results of West Bengal: Statistics & Analysis, 1952-1991 . Communist Party of India (Marxist) West Bengal State Committee. 1998. p. 3
  26. 1 2 "Statistical Report on General Election, 1991 to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal" (PDF). Election Commission of India .
  27. ↑ "List of TN candidates for Lok Sabha polls". The Indian Express. 2 May 1991. p. 5.
  28. ↑ "Over a dozen changes in Cong-I list". The Indian Express. 3 May 1991. p. 9.
  29. ↑ "LTTE blamed". The Indian Express. 24 May 1991. p. 5.
  30. 1 2 E.T.B. Sivapriyan (26 February 2021). "Former Tamil Nadu CPI state secretary D Pandian passes away at 88". Deccan Herald.
  31. 1 2 Chousalkar, Ashok S..  Comrade Shripad Amrut Dange . National Book Trust, India, 2015. p. 121
  32. ↑ "Dange cremated". The Indian Express. 26 May 1991. p. 3.
  33. ↑ "Statistical Report on General Elections, 1991 to the Tenth Lok Sabha - Volume I (National and State Abstracts & Detailed Results)" (PDF). Election Commission of India .
  34. ↑ "Tamaraikani back in Assembly". The Indian Express. 11 July 1991. p. 2.
  35. ↑ "Single-digit opposition in TN legislature". The Indian Express. 18 June 1991. p. 1.
  36. ↑ "UCPI member's plea for bus privatisation". The Indian Express. 11 September 1991. p. 2.
  37. ↑ "Candidate hurt in melee". The Indian Express. 17 June 1991. p. 3.
  38. ↑ "Statistical Report on General Election, 1991 to the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu" (PDF). Election Commission of India .
  39. ↑ "Statistical Report on General Election, 1991 to the Legislative Assembly of Kerala" (PDF). Election Commission of India .
  40. ↑ "Statistical Report on General Election, 1992 to the Legislative Assembly of Punjab" (PDF). Election Commission of India .
  41. 1 2 3 4 "UCPI against curbing press freedom". The Indian Express. 1 May 1992. p. 6.
  42. 1 2 3 "CPI endorses ban". The Indian Express. 13 December 1992. p. 5.
  43. ↑ "Demand for peninsular river grid". The Indian Express. 30 August 1992. p. 3.
  44. ↑ "UCPI opposed to 'oust Jaya programme'". The Indian Express. 21 January 1994. p. 3.
  45. ↑ "Separate board for tribals demanded". The Indian Express. 19 June 1994. p. 3.
  46. ↑ "CM: review hike in LPG price". The Indian Express. 17 September 1992. p. 3.
  47. ↑ "Attack on Weekly office condemned". The Indian Express. 16 August 1991. p. 2.
  48. ↑ "UCPI to back Cong in by-polls". The Indian Express. 23 April 1994. p. 3.
  49. 1 2 3 4 Lekha Rattanani (31 March 1993). "Roza Deshpande snubs communists". India Today.
  50. 1 2 3 Communist Splinter Groups Form Confederation, in JPRS Report: Near East & South Asia, issue 93067 . Foreign Broadcast Information Service, 1993. p. 45
  51. ↑ Malhotra, G. C..  Anti-defection Law in India and the Commonwealth . [Published for] Lok Sabha Secretariat [by] Metropolitan Book Company, 2005. pp. 531-532
  52. 1 2 "'Madras blast a plot to destabilise India'". The Indian Express. 5 September 1993. p. 3.
  53. ↑ "UCPI welcomes Central govt decision". The Indian Express. 12 September 1993. p. 3.
  54. ↑ "Statistical Report on General Elections, 1996 to the 11th Lok Sabha - Volume I (National and State Abstracts & Detailed Results)" (PDF). Election Commission of India .
  55. ↑ "The campaign phase". Frontline. 21 February 1998.
  56. 1 2 "Statistical Report on General Elections, 1998 to the 12th Lok Sabha - Volume I (National and State Abstracts & Detailed Results)" (PDF). Election Commission of India .
  57. ↑ Syed Amin Jafri (3 May 2003). "Veteran communist leader Mohit Sen dead". rediff.com.
  58. 1 2 Parshotam Betab (20 April 2004). "UCPI to back Cong candidates". Times of India.
  59. ↑ "Pardhan Kaur cremated". The Tribune. 13 May 2002.
  60. ↑ Parshotam Betab (26 February 2002). "ETT results spark off controversy". Times of India.
  61. ↑ "UCPI to support Cong-CPI combine". The Tribune. 20 April 2004.
  62. ↑ "Election Commission of India, General Elections, 2009 (15th LOK SABHA), 25 - CONSTITUENCY WISE DETAILED RESULTS" (PDF). Election Commission of India.
  63. ↑ "Election Commission of India, General Elections, 2014 (16th LOK SABHA), 22 - PERFORMANCE OF REGISTERED (UNRECOGNISED) PARTIES (INCLUDING STATE PARTIES IN OTHER STATES)" (PDF). Election Commission of India.
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