Brahmanand Mandal (born 14 January 1947) is a

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West ...

i politician who served as a member of the

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-p ...

from Munger constituency for three terms under three different political parties: in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...

, as a member of the Communist Party of India, in 1996 under the

Samata Party The Samata Party (SAP) is a political party in India, initially formed in 1994 by George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar, now led by Uday Mandal its National President. Samata Party once launched Nitish Kumar as the Chief Minister of Bihar. It was ...

, and re-elected in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

as part of

Janata Dal (United) Janata Dal (United) ("People’s Party (United)”) abbreviated as JD(U) is an Indian political party with political presence mainly in eastern and north-eastern India. JD(U) is recognised as a state party in the states of Bihar , Arunachal Pr ...

. He was the Ex. President of Samata Party (now led by its President Uday Mandal).

Background

Mandal was born 14 January 1947 in Jhawa, Bahiyar, in the

Munger district Munger district is one of the thirty-eight districts of Bihar state in eastern India. Munger city is the administrative headquarters of this district. Munger district is a part of Munger Division. Its literacy rate of 73.3% is higher than the st ...

of Bihar. He was educated at Parbatta College of

Tilka Manjhi Bhagalpur University Tilka Majhi Bhagalpur University, formerly Bhagalpur University, is a public university in Bhagalpur, Bihar, India. It was established on 12 July 1960, having local colleges initially associated with Patna University. Its campus is around in a ...

in Parbatta, and worked as a farmer. From 1964, he was a member of the Communist Party of India, and by 1970, a member of the CPI State Council in Bihar. Mandal led the Bekari Ke Sawal Par Andolan in 1969 and was jailed. He also led Bhoomi Mukti Andolan from 1970 to 1971, and describes himself as having "struggled for social causes and suffered imprisonment." He led an agitation against Taufir Kand in which nine persons were killed and four hundred houses were burnt in 1986, and succeeded in convicting the guilty through a special court. He also led an agitation against Tirasi Hatya Kand in which five persons were kidnapped and murdered in 1990, and helped in the arrest of the guilty persons. He formed Jagriti and agitated for the construction of a rail cum road bridge over the River Ganga in Munger. In 1994 he and his followers went on a hunger strike for the demand of a rail cum road bridge over the River Ganga in Munger. After 14 days of his hunger strike the then Minister of Commerce and Dy. Chairman of Planning Commission Sri Pranav Mukherjee gave the assurance of the construction of the bridge.

Lok Sabha career

In 1991 he was elected to the

10th Lok Sabha List of Members of the 10th Lok Sabha, (20 June 1991 – 10 May 1996) elected during 1991 Indian general election held during May–June 1991. The Lok Sabha (House of the People) is the lower house in the Parliament of India, four sitting membe ...

on the CPI ticket, and served on first on the Consultative Committee of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, then on the Standing Committee; in 1994, he became a Member of the Standing Committee on Railways. In 1996, he joined

George Fernandes George Mathew Fernandes (3 June 1930 – 29 January 2019) was an Indian trade unionist, statesman, and journalist, who served as the 22nd Defence Minister of India from 1998 until 2004. He was a member of Lok Sabha for over 30 years, starting f ...

and became a member of their National Executive. He was elected to the

11th Lok Sabha General elections were held in India in April–May 1996 to elect the members of the 11th Lok Sabha. The result of the election was a hung parliament, which would see three Prime Ministers in two years and force the country back to the polls ...

, in which he served as the Samata Chief Whip, and as a member of the Committee on Food, Civil Supplies and Public Distribution, and of the Consultative Committee, Ministry of Railways. He became Secretary General of the Samata Party of Bihar, and the All India Secretary General of the Samata Party. He was not elected to the

12th Lok Sabha This is the list of members of the 12th Lok Sabha, (10 March 1998 – 26 April 1999) after the 1998 Indian general election held during February–March 1998. This was the second consecutive Lok Sabha, like the 11th Lok Sabha elections that d ...

, losing to Bijoy Kumar Bijoy of Rashtriya Janata Dal, but was once more elected to the

13th Lok Sabha The 13th Lok Sabha (10 October 1999 – 6 February 2004) is the thirteenth session of the Lok Sabha (House of the People, or lower house in the Parliament of India). It was convened after 1999 Indian general election held during September–Oc ...

(defeating Bijoy Kumar Bijoy 346,615 (49.15%) to 324,800 (46.05%)). In the 13th Lok Sabha Mandal served as Deputy Chief Whip for the JD(U) Parliamentary Party, and as a member of the Committee on Finance, Committee on Government Assurances, and Joint Committee on Patents (Second Amendment) Bill, 1999, and (from 2000 onwards) the Consultative Committee, Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Samata merger

When in October 2003,

, the president of the Samata Party, announced that the party would be completely merging with the

, a minority in the SP led by Mandal refused to go along with the merger. The Election Commission of India decided that the merger was not technically complete and so a faction was allowed to function under the Samata Party name. He unsuccessfully ran in the 2006 by-election from

Nalanda (Lok Sabha constituency) Nalanda Lok Sabha constituency is one of the 40 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Bihar state in eastern India. Assembly segments Presently, Nalanda Lok Sabha constituency comprises the following seven Vidhan Sabha (legislative assemb ...

in 2006. He contested in the 2009 Indian general election for

15th Lok Sabha Members of the 15th Lok Sabha were elected during the 2009 general election in India. It was dissolved on 18 May 2014 by President Pranab Mukherjee. Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance won 44 more seats than the previou ...

from

Munger Lok Sabha constituency Munger Lok Sabha constituency (formerly Monghyr) is one of the 40 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies in Bihar state in eastern India. Mokama and Barh are in the 14 assembly segments which fall under Patna district. Assembly segments Pre ...

as an independent candidate, but was not successful, receiving less than 1% of the vote."Lok Sabha Election 2009 - Bihar Constituency: Munger (28)" ''empoweringindia.org.''
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Personal life

On 19 December 1977, he married Kiran Kumari (Mandal); they have one son and one daughter. Their home is in Bekapur. He has published one book, ''Monghyr Ka Vikas aur Ganga Pul'', and booklets on "Monghyr Vikas Aur Sangharsh".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mandal, Brahmanand 1947 births Living people India MPs 1991–1996 India MPs 1996–1997 India MPs 1999–2004 Communist Party of India politicians from Bihar Samata Party politicians Janata Dal (United) politicians People from Katihar district Lok Sabha members from Bihar