Sudhir Chandra Das (born 15 November 1907, date of death unknown) was an Indian politician. During the struggle for Indian independence, he took part in the Salt, No-Tax and

Quit India Movement The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...

s. He represented Contai North and later Contai South in the

West Bengal Legislative Assembly The West Bengal Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian states and territories of India, state of West Bengal. It is located in the B. B. D. Bagh area of Kolkata, the capital of the state. Members of the Legislative as ...

, becoming Minister for Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services in 1969.

1952 election

Das left the Indian National Congress in 1950 and joined the

Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party The Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party (''Farmer Worker People's Party'') was a political party of India. Established in 1951, it merged with the Socialist Party to form the Praja Socialist Party in the following year. History In June, 1951 Indian ...

. Das contested the first West Bengal Legislative Assembly election in independent India, held in 1952, as a KMPP candidate, winning the Contai North seat. He obtained 11,830 votes (35.32%), defeating the candidates of the Indian National Congress, 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 ...

, the

Bharatiya Jan Sangh The Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh, full name: Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh; ) (ISO 15919: '' Akhila Bhāratīya Jana Saṅgha '' ) was an Indian right wing political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the pol ...

and the

Socialist Party Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of th ...

PSP leader

He later became a key leader of the

Praja Socialist Party The Praja Socialist Party, abbreviated as PSP, was an Indian political party. It was founded when the Socialist Party, led by Jayaprakash Narayan, Rambriksh Benipuri, Acharya Narendra Deva and Basawon Singh (Sinha), merged with the Kisan Mazdoo ...

. Das contested the Contai South seat in the

1957 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election The West Bengal state assembly election of 1957 was part of a series of state assembly elections in 1957. State Reorganization On 1 November 1956, under States Reorganisation Act, 1956, a portion of the Purnea district east of the river Maha ...

, finishing in second place with 18,145 votes (45.39%). Das won the Contai South seat in the

1962 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections was held in the Indian state of West Bengal in 1962. Parties Ahead of the polls, the Communist Party of India, the All India Forward Bloc, the Marxist Forward Bloc, the Revolutionary Communist Party of India, the B ...

, obtaining 22,565 votes (51.06%). He retained the seat in the

1967 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election The West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, 1967 was held in Indian state of West Bengal in 1967 to elect 280 members to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. United Front led by Ajoy Mukherjee won majority of seats in the election, and formed ...

, obtaining 26,089 votes (51.04%). He again won the Contai South seat in the

1969 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election Elections were held in Indian state of West Bengal in February 1969 to elect 280 members to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. United Front formed the government with Ajoy Mukherjee as the Chief Minister. United Front won a landslide 214 seats ...

, obtaining 29,776 votes (57.07%). In all of the elections 1957–1969, the contests in Contai South were essentially straight contests between PSP and the Indian National Congress (in the sense that no other candidate obtained more than 5% of the vote).

Minister

On 9 May 1969 Das, leading a dissident faction of the

, was sworn in as Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Minister in the second

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 a ...

government 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 fourt ...

. Das retained the Contai South seat in the

1971 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in the Indian state of West Bengal in 1971. The assembly election was held alongside the 1971 Indian general election. Parties and coalitions Ahead of the 1971 election the map of party coalitions was r ...

, again standing on a PSP ticket but now facing opposition not just from the Indian National Congress but also the

CPI(M) 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 nati ...

(former United Front partner) and the Congress(O). He obtained 18,165 (38.66%). Das was named Minister for Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services (including Zoological Gardens) in the cabinet formed 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 ...

(a coalition of

Bangla Congress The Bangla Congress was a regional political party in the Indian state of West Bengal. It was formed through a split in the Indian National Congress in 1966 and later co-governed with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) in two United F ...

-INC-

Indian Union Muslim League The Indian Union Muslim League (abbreviated as the I. U. M. L. or the League) is an Indian political party primarily based in the Indian state of Kerala. It is recognised as a State Party in Kerala by the Election Commission of India. The first ...

-Rebel

Samyukta Socialist Party Samyukta Socialist Party (; SSP), was a political party in India from 1964 to 1972. SSP was formed through a split in the Praja Socialist Party (PSP) in 1964. In 1972, SSP was reunited with PSP, forming the Socialist Party. The General Secret ...

and Das' rebel PSP – Democratic Socialist Consolidation).

Later years

Das retained the Contai South seat in the

1972 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in the Indian state of West Bengal on March 11, 1972. Background The election was the 4th assembly election in West Bengal within six years. President's Rule had been introduced soon after the 1971 West ...

, contesting on an independent ticket. He obtained 20,001 votes (43.90%), defeating the candidates of Congress(O) and CPI(M). On 11 June 1972 the rebel PSP led by Das and Arun Mitra merged into 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 Em ...

to "pursue the socialist path shown by

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 ...

". Das became a prominent member of the Indian National Congress. Das lost the Contai South seat in the

1977 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections was held in the Indian state of West Bengal on 14 June 1977. The polls took place after the ousting of Indira Gandhi's government at the Centre. The Left Front won a landslide victory. The 1977 election marked th ...

, defeated by Satya Brata Maiti of the Janata Party. He ran on an independent ticket, finishing in second place with 4,556 votes (10.26%).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Das, Sudhirchandra 1907 births Praja Socialist Party politicians 20th-century Indian politicians Indian National Congress politicians from West Bengal State cabinet ministers of West Bengal Year of death missing West Bengal MLAs 1951–1957 West Bengal MLAs 1962–1967 West Bengal MLAs 1967–1969 West Bengal MLAs 1969–1971 West Bengal MLAs 1971–1972 West Bengal MLAs 1972–1977