N. Sankaraiah (born 15 July 1921) is an Indian Communist Party politician and independence activist. After passing Matriculation, Sankaraiah started studying History from American College, Madurai in 1937. He was one of the founders of Madras Students organization and was elected Secretary of Madurai Students Union. During this time he started participating in the freedom struggle of India. He was first arrested in 1941 when he was a final year student of the

American college, Madurai The American College, often referred to as American College, is one of the oldest colleges in India, located in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded in 1881 by American Christian missionaries. The red-brick buildings, in the Saracenic style, ...

. His long political career spanning over seven decades included nearly eight years in jail. Sankaraiah, who was one among the many communists who were released just a day before India attained Independence in August 1947, campaigned for communist candidates in the first general elections. He was one of the 32 National Council members who walked out from a

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 ...

National Council meeting held on 11 April 1964, in protest, accusing Party Chairman

S.A. Dange Shripad Amrut Dange (10 October 1899 – 22 May 1991) was an Indian Politician who was a founding member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and a stalwart of Indian trade union movement. During the 20th century, Dange was arrested by the ...

and his followers of "anti-unity and anti-Communist policies". Later he became one of the founder members 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 ...

. He was the central committee member of

. He was part of the leadership of

All India Kisan Sabha All India Kisan Sabha ( AIKS; lit. ''All India Farmers Union'', also known as the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha), is the peasant or farmers' wing of the Communist Party of India, an important peasant movement formed by Sahajanand Saraswati in 19 ...

. He was the CPI(M) Tamil Nadu State Secretary from 1996 to 2001. He was elected to

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 ...

twice from the Madurai West constituency in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

and from Madurai East constituency in

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 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

. He unsuccessfully contested the

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wors ...

and

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

elections from Madurai East constituency. His two sons, Chandrasekar and Narasimman, are party leaders. He was married to Navamani. He turned 100 in July 2021.

References

External links

1977 Tamil Nadu Election Results, Election Commission of India1980 Tamil Nadu Election Results, Election Commission of India
1921 births Living people 20th-century Indian politicians Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from Tamil Nadu Indian centenarians Men centenarians Politicians from Madurai Tamil Nadu politicians {{CPIndiaMarxist-politician-stub