Prakash Karat (born 7 February 1948) is 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, ...

politician. He was the General Secretary of 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 ...

from 2005 to 2015.

Education and early career

Prakash Karat was born in Letpadan,

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

on 7 February 1948. His father worked as a clerk in the Burma Railways, where he had sought employment during the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

. Prakash Karat's family hailed from Elappully,

Palakkad Palakkad (), formerly known as Palghat, historically known as Palakkattussery is a city and municipality in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of the Palakkad District. Palakkad is most densely populated munici ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South Ca ...

. Prakash Karat lived in Palakkad till the age of five before returning to

where he lived with his family till the age of nine, when his family left Burma for good in 1957. Karat studied in the Madras Christian College Higher Secondary School in Chennai. On finishing school, he won the first prize in an all-India essay competition on the Tokyo Olympics. He was sent on a ten-day visit to the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 as a result. He went to the

Madras Christian College Madras Christian College (MCC) is a liberal arts and sciences college in Chennai, India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. The college is affiliated to the University of Madras but functions as an autonomous insti ...

as an undergraduate student in economics, winning the prize for best all round student on graduation. Encouraged by the Scottish theologian Duncan B. Forrester, one of his college professors, he got a scholarship to Britain's University of Edinburgh, for a master's degree in politics. In 1970 he received an MSc degree from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...

for the thesis "Language and politics in modern India". At Edinburgh he became active in student politics and met Professor

Victor Kiernan Edward Victor Gordon Kiernan (4 September 1913 – 17 February 2009) was a British historian and a member of the Communist Party Historians Group. Kiernan's work was prominent in the field of Marxist historiography in Britain, analyzing his ...

, the well-known Marxist historian. His political activism began with anti-apartheid protests at the university, for which he was rusticated. The rustication was suspended on good behaviour. Karat returned to India in 1970 and joined

Jawaharlal Nehru University Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is a public major research university located in New Delhi, India. It was established in 1969 and named after Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. The university is known for leading faculties an ...

, New Delhi. He worked as an aide to A.K. Gopalan, the legendary communist leader from Kerala and leader of the CPI(M) group in Parliament from 1971 to 1973, while doing his Ph.D. in JNU. Karat was one of the founders of the

Students Federation of India The Students' Federation of India (abbreviated as SFI) is an Indian left-wing student organisation politically aligned to the ideologies of Independence, Democracy and Socialism. Currently, V. P. Sanu and Mayukh Biswas are elected as the All I ...

(SFI), in Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was involved with student politics and was elected the third president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union. He also became the second President of the Students Federation of India between 1974 to 1979. During this period his associates included

N. Ram Narasimhan Ram (born 4 May 1945) is an Indian journalist and a prominent member of the Kasturi family that controls The Hindu Group of publications. Ram was the managing-director of ''The Hindu'' since 1977 and its editor-in-chief since 27 Ju ...

, later editor of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the sec ...

'' daily, the radical women's activist

Mythili Sivaraman Mythili Sivaraman (14 December 1939 – 30 May 2021) was an Indian women's rights and trade union activist. She was a co-founder of All India Democratic Women's Association and leader in the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Through her writ ...

and, less closely, P. Chidambaram, who later became India's finance minister. He worked underground for one and a half years during the Emergency in India in 1975-76. He was arrested twice and spent eight days in prison.

Personal life

He is married to activist-politician

Brinda Karat Brinda Karat (born 17 October 1947) is an Indian politician, elected to the Rajya Sabha as a Communist Party of India (Marxist) member on 11 April 2005 for West Bengal. In 2005, she became the first woman member of the CPI(M) Politburo. She ...

Communist Party of India (Marxist)

After returning to India in 1970, Karat joined the Jawaharlal Nehru University and thereafter Communist Party of India (Marxist). He began working as an aide to the party leader

A. K. Gopalan Ayillyath Kuttiari Gopalan (1 October 1904 – 22 March 1977), popularly known as A. K. Gopalan or AKG, was an Indian communist politician. He was one of 16 Communist Party of India members elected to the first Lok Sabha in 1952. Later he beca ...

. He was the Secretary of the Delhi State Committee of the CPI(M) from 1982 to 1985. Prakash Karat was elected to the Central Committee of the CPI (M) in 1985 and became a member of the ‘Politburo’ in 1992. He took over as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 2005 at the 18th Congress of the Party held in Delhi. During his era Communist Part of India (Marxist) see a sharp downfall due to his rigid behaviour on party line.

Party Leader

Karat was elected to the Central Committee of the CPI (M) in 1985 and became a member of the PolitBureau in 1992. The Politburo is the key decision making wing of the party. In 2005, he was elected General Secretary.

Lok Sabha Election Results during tenure of Karat as General Secretary

Academic and political writings

Since 1992, Karat has been on the editorial board of CPI(M)'s academic journal, ''The Marxist''. He is also the managing director of ''Naya Rasta Publishers'', the parent company of

Leftword Books LeftWord Books is a New Delhi-based publisher that seeks to reflect the views of the Left in India and South Asia. Its Managing Director is Prakash Karat, the former General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M). The C ...

. He is the author of five books. * ''Language, Nationality and Politics in India'' (1972) * ''A World to Win''—Essays on the

Communist Manifesto ''The Communist Manifesto'', originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (german: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), is a political pamphlet written by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Comm ...

(1999), edited * ''Across Time and Continents: A tribute to Victor Kiernan'' (2003), edited * ''Subordinate Ally: The nuclear deal and India-US strategic relations ''(2008) * ''Politics and policies''(2008)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karat, Prakash Living people 1948 births Madras Christian College alumni Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from Kerala Indian atheists Indian political writers Jawaharlal Nehru University alumni Indian Marxist writers Anti-Americanism Indian communists Indian anti-capitalists Anti-capitalists Anti-imperialism Leaders of political parties in India Malayali people General Secretaries of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) 20th-century Indian non-fiction writers Indian male writers People from Palakkad district People involved in the Citizenship Amendment Act protests Students' Federation of India All India Presidents Marxist writers Marxist theorists Marxist humanists Students' unions Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union