The Bangla Congress was a regional

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

in the Indian state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

. It was formed through a split in the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

in 1966 and later co-governed with the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the na ...

(CPI(M)) in two

United Front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political ...

governments, the first lasting from 15 March 1967 to 2 November 1967, the second from 25 February 1969 to 19 March 1970.

History

Mainly the Left Wing of the Bengal Congress, represented by

Ajoy Mukherjee Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee (15 April 1901 – 27 May 1986) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served three short terms as the fourth and sixth Chief Minister of West Bengal. He hailed from Tamluk, Purba Medinipur district, West Be ...

Pranab Mukherjee Dr. Pranab Mukherjee (11 December 193531 August 2020) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the 13th president of India from 2012 until 2017. In a political career spanning five decades, Mukherjee was a senior leader in the Indi ...

, Siddhartha Shankar Ray, A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury, Abha Maiti revolted against the leadership of the old conservative elites of "the Syndicate" like

Prafulla Chandra Sen Prafulla Chandra Sen (10 April 1897 – 25 September 1990) was an Indian politician and freedom fighter. He was the Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1962 to 1967. Background Prafulla Chandra Sen was born in the village Senhati in the Khulna ...

and

Atulya Ghosh Atulya Ghosh (28 August 1904 – 18 April 1986) was a Bengali Indian politician.Bose, Anjali (editor), 1996/2004, ''Sansad Bangali Charitabhidhan'' (Biographical dictionary) Vol II, , pp8-9, He has been described as "a wise, scholarly and hon ...

in 1966 owing to the policies of the Prafulla Sen government during the Food Movement. The revolt was mainly led by younger leaders of the Congress and enjoyed widespread support among the rural landowning and trading classes as well as the middle castes of rural Bengal, such as the

Mahishya Mahishya, also spelled Mahisya, is a Bengali Hindu traditionally agrarian caste, and formed the largest caste in undivided Bengal. Mahishyas are considered as Forward caste. Mahisyas traditionally lived in Bengal and Orissa region. In late t ...

s, Aguris and the Sadgops who looked upon an alliance with the Proletarian Left Front as useful against the dominance of the Calcutta-oriented Congress leadership which was seen to favour the Calcutta-based large private industries and British business interests too much. The Party had a strong base in

Midnapore Medinipur or Midnapore (Pron: med̪iːniːpur) is a city known for its history in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the West Medinipur district. It is situated on the banks of the Kangsabati River (variously known as '' ...

, Hooghly, Nadia,

Murshidabad Murshidabad fa, مرشد آباد (, or ) is a historical city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located on the eastern bank of the Bhagirathi River, a distributary of the Ganges. It forms part of the Murshidabad district. Durin ...

and all of

North Bengal North Bengal ( bn, উত্তরবঙ্গ/উত্তর বাংলা) is a term used for the north-western part of Bangladesh and northern part of West Bengal. The Bangladesh part denotes the Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division. G ...

and a big plank was development of rural areas and small towns as opposed to the Calcutta-obsessed approach of the Congress-led West Bengal Government.

, a veteran Congress leader from Tamluk, a rural area of

was the Chief Minister in both governments formed by the Coalition and till date, he remains the only Chief Minister of West Bengal not to reside in a Calcutta postal address. Other later Congress leaders like Priya Ranjan DasMunshi, Manas Bhunia and Somen Mitra also started their careers as lower rung student leaders of the Bangla Congress split. On 19 March 1970 the second United Front government fell as a result of the breakdown of the alliance between the Bangla Congress and the

. Thanks to the Land Reform movement led by

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, ...

leaders

Benoy Choudhury Benoy Choudhury (14 January 1911 – 6 May 2000) was an Indian revolutionary freedom fighter and politician, belonging to the CPI(M), who played a major role in land reforms in the Indian state of West Bengal. Early life He passed matriculation ...

and Hare Krishna Konar which threatened the interests of the landowning Middle/backward castes that supported the Bangla Congress. The Bangla Congress then went into rapid decline and was later reunified with the

Electoral results

;

state assembly 1967: 80 candidates, 34 elected, 1,286,028 votes 1969: 49 candidates, 33 elected, 1,094,654 votes 1971: 137 candidates, 5 elected, 695,376 votes ;Lok Sabha election 1967: 7 candidates, 5 elected, 1,204,356 votes 1971: 14 candidates, 1 elected, 518,781 votes

References

{{reflist

External links

Split in a Predominant Party: The Indian National Congress in 1969
Defunct political parties in West Bengal Indian National Congress breakaway groups Political parties established in 1966 Political parties disestablished in 1971 1966 establishments in West Bengal 1971 disestablishments in India

History

Electoral results

See also

References

External links