Adivasi The Adivasi refers to inhabitants of Indian subcontinent, generally tribal people. The term is a Sanskrit word coined in the 1930s by political activists to give the tribal people an indigenous identity by claiming an indigenous origin. The te ...

Dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming a ...

impoverished Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little

income< ...

sections of society and mobilised them through the means of unions, rallies and conventions. It had a significant presence in the state of

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 ...

(including present day

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . ...

) and also operated in the states of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

,

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in the North India, northern part of India. It is often referred to as t ...

,

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

and

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 four ...

attempting to project itself as a national party. It was disbanded when the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation began contesting elections on its own, inheriting its organisation. The leadership of the front included Nagbhushan Patnaik and Dipankar Bhattacharya. The chairperson of the

Autonomous State Demand Committee Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC), originally Peoples Democratic Front, was set up as a mass organization of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation with the aim of statehood for the Karbi Anglong region in the India ...

,

Jayanta Rongpi Jayanta Rongpi is an Indian politician. He served as Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha for the Autonomous District constituency of Assam from 1991 to 2004. In 1991, 1996 and 1998 he was elected as a candidate of the Autonomous State Demand Comm ...

was also a member of the central committee. The central committee also included Rameshwar Prasad and Ganauri Azad Harijan, among others.

History

Foundation

In 1979, the

Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation ( abbreviated: CPI(ML)L or CPI-ML(L) or CPIML Liberation) also referred to as the Liberation Group, is a Communist political party in India. History In 1973 the original Commu ...

held a conference which sanctioned the formation of an open mass organisation. The idea was conceptualized by the general secretary Vinod Mishra to enable the party to organise with other democratic forces on the lines of a "popular, democratic and patriotic programme" and participate in electoral politics. The party had been underground since the imposition of the Emergency in India.Sen, Arindam.
The Life of Vinod Mishra
'' The Indian People's Front was launched in a conference organised by the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation which was held in Delhi between 24–26 April 1982. The conference was attended by the splinter factions of the

Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) (CPI (ML)) was an Indian communist party formed by the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR) at a congress in Calcutta in 1969. The foundation of the party w ...

led by Nagbhushan Patnaik and Chandra Pulla Reddy. It was intended to project itself as a "national alternative" to the Indira Gandhi led

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 ...

. Karat, Prakash.
Naxalism Today; At an Ideological Deadend
'. ''The Marxist'', Volume: 3, No. 1, January- March 1985 In the beginning, the front was projected as a

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 ...

of different revolutionary groups but most other factions dropped out during its formation and it effectively became a mass organisation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation. Satyanarayan Singh publicly denounced and ridiculed the notion of the front becoming a "national alternative". On 15 October 1982, the front organised a mass rally against the Bihar Press Bill which witnessed a participation of 100,000 people according to

mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought. Chomsky, Noam, ''"What makes ma ...

sources.

Second conference

The Indian People's Front (IPF) held its second conference in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

between 4–6 November 1984, in midst of the turmoil following the

assassination of Indira Gandhi Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated at 9:30 a.m. on 31 October 1984 at her residence in Safdarjung Road, New Delhi. She was killed by her bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh in the aftermath of Operation Blue Star ...

.

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation 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. His ...

.
30 years of CPI(ML)
'' It contested 49 seats in the

1985 Bihar Legislative Assembly election The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of ...

but failed to win a single seat. On 19 April 1986, the police opened fire on a protest gathering of landless farmers (primarily

dalit Dalit (from sa, दलित, dalita meaning "broken/scattered"), also previously known as untouchable, is the lowest stratum of the castes in India. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming a ...

s) which resulted in the deaths of 23 people in Arwal,

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 ...

. Civil rights activists described the massacre as part of a systematic eradication of the moblisation of impoverished people by branding them as "Naxalite" and killing them in

police encounters A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only inv ...

in collaboration with private armies and militias of rich ''

zamindar A zamindar (Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as ...

s'' (landlords) such as the Ranvir Sena. In August, the IPF organised an armed ''

gherao Gherao, meaning "encirclement", is a word which denotes a tactic used by labour activists and union leaders in India; it is similar to picketing. Usually, a group of people would surround a politician or a government building until their demands a ...

'' (picketing) of the

Bihar Legislative Assembly The Bihar Legislative Assembly, also known as the Bihar Vidhan Sabha, is the lower house of the Bihar Legislature where the first elections were held in 1952. The total strength of membership in the Assembly was 331, including one nominated ...

in protest of the massacre. The protest is claimed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation, to mark a new phase in the assertiveness of revolutionary democratic forces. In the same year, the front organised a "national convention of women" in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

which saw a participation of around 1000 women. The convention took the initiative of giving attention to women's issues while attempting to foster cooperation and synthesis between communist women's organisations and autonomous women's groups. In an address to the convention, the president of the women's cell of the front stated that feminism and Marxism were complementary ideologies. The front also organised an "all India worker's convention" in Ambernath, near

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

in November 1987, with

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

leader Datta Samant as the convener.

Mandal commission & Economic liberalisation

In the

1989 Indian general election General elections were held in India on 22 and 26 November 1989 to elect the members of the 9th Lok Sabha. The incumbent Indian National Congress government under the premiership of Rajiv Gandhi lost its mandate, even though it was still the ...

, the Indian People's Front (IPF) was able to win the Arrah constituency in Bihar with Rameshwar Prasad as the candidate. It was also able to win 7 seats and secure the second highest vote share in 14 constituencies in the

1990 Bihar Legislative Assembly election Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the ...

. Over the years, the front had acquired a large share of the Scheduled Caste voters from 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 ...

in Bihar. It took the position of supporting reservations solely on the basis of social and educational backwardness and supported the implementation of the recommendations of the

Mandal Commission The ''Mandal Commission'' or the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes Commission (SEBC), was established in India in 1979 by the Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai with a mandate to "identify the socially or educ ...

. In the 1990 election, the IPF had contested 82 seats and received a vote share of 10.56% on the contested seats. During the

economic liberalisation in India The economic liberalisation in India refers to the opening of the country's economy to the world with the goal of making the economy more market and service-oriented, thus expanding the role of private and foreign investment. Indian economi ...

, it launched campaigns against price hikes and for the

right to work The right to work is the concept that people have a human right to work, or engage in productive employment, and should not be prevented from doing so. The right to work is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized ...

, adopting a traditional leftist discourse. On 8 October 1990, a national rally with the slogan of ''dam bandho kaam do'' (check prices and give jobs) was organised in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

by the front. In the same month, it organised a mass rally in

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

which was noted to be the largest rally in the recorded history of the city. In the 1991 Indian general election, the IPF lost the seat of Arrah constituency but was able to send a member to the parliament (

Jayanta Rongpi Jayanta Rongpi is an Indian politician. He served as Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha for the Autonomous District constituency of Assam from 1991 to 2004. In 1991, 1996 and 1998 he was elected as a candidate of the Autonomous State Demand Comm ...

) through the

Autonomous State Demand Committee Autonomous State Demand Committee (ASDC), originally Peoples Democratic Front, was set up as a mass organization of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation with the aim of statehood for the Karbi Anglong region in the India ...

in the Karbi Anglong constituency. In the same year, four of its members in the Bihar Legislative Assembly defected to the

Janata Dal Janata Dal (“People’s Party”) was an Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Janata Party factions, the Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha united on 11 October 1988 on the birth annive ...

under the leadership of

Lalu Prasad Yadav Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He is a former Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997), a former Railway Minister of India (2004-2009), and a former Member of Parliame ...

at the height of polarisation on the Mandal issue. In Uttar Pradesh, the party publication ''Liberation'' accused the

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; translation: ''Socialist Party'', founded 4 October 1992) is a socialist political party in India, headquartered in New Delhi but mainly based in Uttar Pradesh, with significant presence in other states as well. With ...

of targeting the cadre and lower caste support base of the Indian People's Front with state violence and then providing them with protection if they defected preventing it from successfully organising the way it had in

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 ...

. On 14 February 1992, in the wake of rising

Hindu nationalism Hindu nationalism has been collectively referred to as the expression of social and political thought, based on the native spiritual and cultural traditions of the Indian subcontinent. "Hindu nationalism" or the correct term ''Hindū rāṣṭ ...

in India, the

Bharatiya Kisan Sangh The Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS) ( en, Indian Farmers' Union, italics=yes) is an Indian farmers' organization that is politically linked to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and a member of the Sangh Parivar. BKS was founded by Dattopant Thengad ...

(farmer's union affiliated to the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the List of ruling p ...

) killed 14 Scheduled caste landless labourers for supporting the Indian People's Front in Tikshora village near Patna. At the same time, the front was able to expand its footprint in

Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising ...

when its candidate Surjan Singh Joga won the Joga constituency in the 1992 Punjab Legislative Assembly election.

Disbandment

In December 1992, the

Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation ( abbreviated: CPI(ML)L or CPI-ML(L) or CPIML Liberation) also referred to as the Liberation Group, is a Communist political party in India. History In 1973 the original Commu ...

held its fifth congress in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

. Following which the party came out of the underground and eventually disbanded the Indian People's Front in 1994. The ''Samajik Parivartan Rally'' (Social Change Rally) on 18 March 1994, was the last rally called by the front. The rally was reported to been a gathering of tens of thousands of bare-footed and starving workers who had marched to

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

from all over Bihar; some having traveled over on foot to reach the venue. At the time, political observers described the front to be the fastest growing leftist movement in India. From 1995 onward the party began contesting elections on its own, substituting the role of the former front.

Affiliated organisations

The Indian People's Front (IPF) had a number of unorganised sector unions in Bihar. * Rickshaw-Thela Chalak Mazdoor Sangha (RTCMS): an union of rickshaw and handcart drivers. Ganauri Azad Harijan was the president of the union and a member of the national executive of the Indian People's Front. * Bihar Jhuggi-Jhopri Bashi Sangha (BJJBS): an organisation of slum dwellers in

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

. Dinesh Singh was a fish seller and the president of the BJJBS. *Uttarakhand Popular Anti-Liquor Movement: The movement for the restriction and regulation of liquor sales in

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in the North India, northern part of India. It is often referred to as t ...

was also affiliated to the IPF from the founding conference.

References

{{Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation 1982 establishments in Delhi Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation Defunct communist parties in India Defunct political party alliances in India Political parties established in 1982 Political parties disestablished in 1994 Popular fronts

History

Foundation

Second conference

Mandal commission & Economic liberalisation

Disbandment

Affiliated organisations

See also

References