R. Umanath (21 December 1921 - 21 May 2014) was a communist politician from

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 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, and a Politburo member of

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 ...

from 1998. He was born in 1921 in

Kasaragod Kasaragod () is a municipal town and administrative headquarters of Kasaragod district in the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1966, Kasaragod was the first municipal town in the district. It is the northernmost district of Kerala and ...

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 ...

and moved to

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 ...

during his student days.

Early days

Born in a poor Brahmin family in

, Umanath learnt to play harmonium to accompany his mother who eked out a livelihood as a

Bhajan Bhajan refers to any devotional song with a religious theme or spiritual ideas, specifically among Indian religions, in any language. The term bhajanam (Sanskrit: भजनम्) means ''reverence'' and originates from the root word ''bhaj'' ...

singer. While his family had hoped that Umanath, a student of

Annamalai University , logo = CampusmapofAU.jpg , image = Annamalai University logo.png , image_size = 225px , motto = "With Courage and Faith" , established = , type ...

, would land in a good job, he disappointed them by quitting his studies to become a full-time member of the Communist party. He 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 ...

in 1939 while studying at the

Annamalai University , logo = CampusmapofAU.jpg , image = Annamalai University logo.png , image_size = 225px , motto = "With Courage and Faith" , established = , type ...

. He left his studies to become a whole-timer of the Party. Umanath was arrested along with

P. Ramamurthi P. Ramamurti (20 September 1908 – 15 December 1987) was an Indian politician and a politburo member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Ramamurti was born in Chennai to Panchapakesan, a Sanskrit scholar. He obtained his education fro ...

in 1940 in connection with the Madras Conspiracy Case, and jailed for three years. He spent nine and a half years in jail, and another seven years underground.

Role in Parliamentary politics

He was elected to the 3rd and 4th

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

s from the Pudukkottai in 1962 and 1967. He was elected to the

Tamil Nadu legislative assembly The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a strength of 234 members of whom are democratically elected using the First-past-the-post voting, First-past-the-post system. The pres ...

as a Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate from

Nagapattinam Nagapattinam (''nākappaṭṭinam'', previously spelt Nagapatnam or Negapatam) is a town in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Nagapattinam District. The town came to prominence during the period of Medieval ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

and

1980 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1980. Africa * 1980 Angolan legislative election * 1980 Cameroonian presidential election * 1980 Cape Verdean parliamentary election * 1980 Gabonese legislative election * 1980 Guinean legislative ...

Stalwart in Communist Party

A trade union leader for many years, Umanath is a former vice-president 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 ...

. He was one of the founders of the CITU and the first general secretary of the organisation in the State. He remained the President of the state CITU for years. He served as one of the Vice Presidents of the

till 2010. Umanath was also a Tamil Nadu State Committee secretary of CPI(M). He was firmly opposed to

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

and Tamil separatism in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. In 1991, he was elected to the Polit Bureau and served in that capacity till 2008. He was a member of the Central Committee of the Party from 1978 to 2012. He died on 21 May 2014 in

Tiruchirappalli Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...

. His wife was the reputed communist leader Pappa Umanath. U. Vasuki, who is also the CPI(M) state secretariat member is his daughter.

External links

Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from Tamil Nadu 1921 births India MPs 1962–1967 India MPs 1967–1970 Lok Sabha members from Tamil Nadu 2014 deaths People from Pudukkottai district {{CPIndiaMarxist-politician-stub