P. Ramamurti (20 September 1908 – 15 December 1987) was an Indian politician and a

politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...

member of the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in term ...

. Ramamurti was born in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

to Panchapakesan, a

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

scholar. He obtained his education from Hindu High School, Presidency College,

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and the

Banaras Hindu University Banaras Hindu University (BHU) IAST: kāśī hindū viśvavidyālaya IPA: /kaːʃiː hɪnd̪uː ʋɪʃwəʋid̪jaːləj/), is a collegiate, central, and research university located in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, and founded in 1916 ...

. He joined the

Congress Socialist Party The Congress Socialist Party (CSP) was a socialist caucus within the Indian National Congress. It was founded in 1934 by Congress members who rejected what they saw as the anti-rational mysticism of Gandhi as well as the sectarian attitude of th ...

(CSP) during the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

. In 1927, he was involved in the protests against the

Simon Commission The Indian Statutory Commission also known as Simon Commission, was a group of seven Members of Parliament under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon. The commission arrived in India in 1928 to study constitutional reform in Britain's largest a ...

. Like many other members of the CSP in South India he then joined 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 ...

, and was one of the founding members of the party in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. He became the Secretary of CSP in Tamil Nadu and was a member of the

All India Congress Committee The All India Congress Committee (AICC) is the presidium or the central decision-making assembly of the Indian National Congress. It is composed of members elected from state-level Pradesh Congress Committees and can have as many as a thousan ...

.Sud, S. P. Singh, and Ajit Singh Sud.
Indian Elections and Legislators
'. Ludhiana: All India Publications, 1953. p. 215 In 1936 he began organising

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

s. Ramamurti was elected to the Madras Legislative Assembly in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

from the Madurai North Constituency. At the time he was in jail. In total P. Ramamurti spent eight years in jail and five years underground. Ramamurti was affectionately referred to as PR within the party and the larger Indian Left. He was the first Leader of the Opposition of the Madras State in 1952 in a House of 375. This was before the First States Re-organisation in 1956, which led to the creation of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. This election returned a fractured mandate, without any party gaining a simple majority. The Communist-led coalition formed the largest block and staked claim to form the government. But C. Rajagopalachari, India's first Governor General after Independence who was also from Madras, came out of retirement and convinced the then Madras Governor

Sri Prakasa Sri Prakasa (3 August 1890 – 23 June 1971) was an Indian politician, freedom-fighter and administrator. He served as India's first High Commissioner to Pakistan from 1947 to 1949, Governor of Assam from 1949 to 1950, Governor of Madras from ...

to invite him to form a Congress government in the state. The decision was highly criticized and was viewed as the Indian National Congress' machinations to defeat a popular government led by Communists. Rajagopalachari was not an elected member of the assembly as he had not participated in the polls.^{78] ]} Rajagopalachari requested Prakasa to nominate him to the assembly thereby foregoing the usual process of election by the members of the assembly. Ramamurti opposed this by way of a petition in the Madras High Court seeking to annul Rajagoplachari's nomination. Ramamurti's daughter R. Vaiga
writes
about this during the end of a year-long celebration of his birth centenary in 2008 in The Hindu. In 1953, at the 3rd CPI party congress, he was elected to the

Central Committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of Communist party, communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party org ...

and the politburo of the party. In 1964 he was part of the faction in the party leadership that formed the CPI(M). In 1967 he was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Madurai constituency. In 1970 he became the first general secretary 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 ...

. On 20 September 2007 CPI(M) general secretary

Prakash Karat Prakash Karat (born 7 February 1948) is an Indian Communist politician. He was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from 2005 to 2015. Education and early career Prakash Karat was born in Letpadan, Burma on 7 Februar ...

unveiled a bronze statue of P. Ramamurti in

Madurai Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...

, marking the beginning of the centenary anniversary celebrations of P. Ramamurti.1951/52 Madras State Election Results, Election Commission of India

Bibliography

*''For whom the BHEL tolls?'', published in 1979

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramamurthi, P. 1908 births 1987 deaths Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from Tamil Nadu Trade unionists from Tamil Nadu Lok Sabha members from Tamil Nadu Indian independence activists from Tamil Nadu Presidency College, Chennai alumni India MPs 1967–1970 Politicians from Madurai