Krishna Desai (died 5 June 1970) was a member of the

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 ...

(CPI). He was a Member of

Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra The Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha or the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the legislature of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is situated in the Nariman Point area of South Mumbai in the capital Mumbai. Presently, 288 memb ...

who represented the working-class Mumbai constituency of

Parel Parel (ISO: Paraḷ, pronunciation: əɾəɭ is a neighbourhood of Mumbai. Parel used to have a number of textile mills, but these have been replaced by commercial office space development. History Originally, Parel was a separate island, ...

, then a communist stronghold. Desai was murdered in 1970, and this was preceded by the burning of the office of the CPI-led Girni Kamgar Union. Hansen considers his murder to be the culmination of the

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena ( IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bom ...

campaign against the communists. His murder was a sign of a Sena victory in its struggle for the domination of unions and politics in Mumbai's working class district. Funeral Procession for Krishna Desai

Desai was stabbed to death on 5 June 1970. He was a sitting MLA when he was murdered. Seven suspects were arrested on 8 June 1970. Nineteen young persons were charged and sixteen were convicted for the murder. The accused were defended by

Ram Jethmalani Ram Boolchand Jethmalani (14 September 1923 – 8 September 2019) was an Indian lawyer and politician. He served as India's Union minister of law and justice, as chairman of the Indian Bar Council, and as the president of the Supreme Court B ...

Balasaheb Thackeray Bal Thackeray (; 23 January 1926 – 17 November 2012), also known as Balasaheb Thackeray, was an Indian politician who founded the Shiv Sena, a right-wing pro-Marathi and Hindu nationalist party active mainly in the state of Maharashtra. ...

's complicity in the murder was never proven. Prakash writes that those convicted were members of the Shiv Sena. According to Dipankar Gupta, the Shiv Sena chief

Bal Thackeray Bal Thackeray (; 23 January 1926 – 17 November 2012), also known as Balasaheb Thackeray, was an Indian politician who founded the Shiv Sena, a right-wing pro-Marathi and Hindu nationalist party active mainly in the state of Maharashtra. ...

congratulated those who killed Desai, declaring, "we must not miss a single opportunity to massacre communists wherever we find them." In the special by-election held in October 1970, his wife Sarojini Desai was nominated by the CPI, but she was defeated by the Shiv Sena candidate

Wamanrao Mahadik Wamanrao Mahdik (1925-1999) was a leader of Shiv Sena. He was the first Shiv Sena member elected to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. He was elected from Parel constituency in 1969–70 bypoll. He was mayor of Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also k ...

by a narrow margin of 1679 votes (of the nearly 62000 votes cast). According to the communists, the then

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 Em ...

government had an interest in weakening and driving out the communists, and so it "supported the incident".

References

Communist Party of India politicians from Maharashtra Assassinated Indian politicians Politicians from Mumbai 1970 deaths Deaths by stabbing in India Maharashtra MLAs 1967–1972 Year of birth missing People murdered in Maharashtra 1970s assassinated politicians in Asia 20th-century assassinated Indian politicians {{Maharashtra-politician-stub

See also

References