Bhalchandra Trimbak Ranadive (; 19 December 1904 – 6 April 1990), popularly known as BTR, was an Indian

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

politician and trade union leader.

Personal life

He was elder brother of Ahilya Rangnekar, a CPI-M leader and 6th Lok Sabha member from

Mumbai North Central (Lok Sabha constituency) Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency is a Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituency of Maharashtra state in western India. Assembly segments Presently, after the implementation of the delimitation of the parliamentary constituencies in 2 ...

. They belonged to a Marathi

Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu Chandraseniya Kayastha Prabhu (CKP) is a caste group mainly found in Maharashtra. Historically, they made equally good warriors, statesmen as well as writers. They held the posts such as Deshpandes and Gadkaris and according to the historian, ...

(CKP) family but Ranadive, a brilliant student, would teach Dalit students in his spare time.

Political career

Ranadive completed his studies in 1927, obtaining an M.A. degree with distinction and in 1928 he joined the clandestine

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

. In the same year he became a major leader of the All India Trade Union Congress in Bombay. He was active with the Girini Kamgar Union of the textile workers in Bombay and with the struggles of the railway workers. He became the secretary of the GIP Railwaymen’s Union. In 1939, he married Vimal, a trade union activist. In 1943 he was elected to the central committee of the party. In February 1946 Ranadive played a major role in organizing a general strike in support of the Naval ratings revolt. At its 2nd Party Congress held in Calcutta in February, 1948 the party elected Ranadive in place of

P.C. Joshi Puran Chand Joshi (14 April 1907 – 9 November 1980), one of the early leaders of the communist movement in India. He was the general secretary of the Communist Party of India from 1935 to 1947. Early years Joshi was born on 14 April 1907, in ...

as its general secretary.Chandra, Bipan & others (2000). ''India after Independence 1947-2000'', New Delhi: Penguin, , p.204 Ranadive was the general secretary of CPI 1948-1950. During that period the party was engaged in

revolutionary A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective, to refer to something that has a major, sudden impact on society or on some aspect of human endeavor. ...

uprisings, such as the

Telangana armed struggle The Telangana Rebellion popularly known as Telangana Sayuda Poratam (Telugu : తెలంగాణ సాయుధ పోరాటం) of 1946–51 was a communist-led insurrection of peasants against the princely state of Hyderabad in the r ...

. In 1950 Ranadive was deposed, and denounced by the party as a "left adventurist". In 1956, at the 4th Party Congress in Palghat BTR was again included in the Central Committee. He became a leading figure of the leftist section of the CC. At the time of the Indo-China border conflict in 1962, Ranadive was one of many prominent communist leaders jailed by the government. In 1964 he became one of the main leaders of Communist Party of India (Marxist). At the founding conference of the

Centre of Indian Trade Unions Centre of Indian Trade Unions, CITU is a National level Trade Union in India and its trade union wing is a spearhead of the Indian Trade Union Movement. The Centre of Indian Trade Unions is today one of biggest assemblies of workers and classe ...

in Calcutta May 28–31 1970, Ranadive was elected president.

Commemoration

The central building of

CITU CITU may stand for: * Cebu Institute of Technology – University, educational institution in the Philippines * Centre for Islamic Thought and Understanding (CITU), academic centre for Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia * The Centre of Indian T ...

in New Delhi is named after him— ''BTR Bhavan''. Akg-btr

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ranadive, B.T. Indian independence activists Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from Maharashtra Trade unionists from Maharashtra Marathi politicians 1904 births 1990 deaths