Provisional Central Committee, Communist Party Of India (Marxist–Leninist)
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The Provisional Central Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) was a
communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
political party in
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. The general secretary of the party was
Santosh Rana Santosh Rana (1942 – 29 June 2019) was an Indian politician. In the 1960s, he was a prominent figure in the armed struggle of the Naxalites led by Charu Majumdar. Rana received Ananda Puraskar for his book ''Rajnitir Ek Jibon'' in 2018. Agr ...
. The party is often referred to as CPI(ML) antosh Rana Groupor likewise. The PCC, CPI(ML) evolved from the group loyal to Satyanarayan Singh from the original
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...
. Singh rebelled against the party leader
Charu Majumdar Charu Majumdar (15 May 1918 – 28 July 1972) was an Indian communist leader, and founder and General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). Born into a progressive landlord family in Siliguri in 1918, he became a Commun ...
in 1971, provoking a split. In April 1973, Singh's party was reorganised. In March 2024, the party merged with CPI(ML) Revolutionary Initiative and CPI(ML) Praja Pandha to create a new party CPI(ML) Mass Line.


History

Santosh Rana had broken with Charu Majumdar in 1971, and later joined Singh's group. In 1974 the
Chandrapulla Reddy Chandra Pulla Reddy (1917 – 9 November 1984, Calcutta) was an Indian communist leader. Biography Chandra Pulla Reddy was born in 1917 at Velugodu village in what is currently the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh. A leading activist in I ...
-led Andhra Pradesh Committee of Communist Revolutionaries merged with Singh's CPI(ML). When the
Bihar movement The Bihar movement, also known as the JP movement, was a political movement initiated by students in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Bihar against misrule and corruption in the government of Bihar, state government, in ...
was launched by
Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known as JP and ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist and Indian independence activist, independence activist. He is mai ...
in 1974, Singh's CPI(ML) decided to lend support to it. Narayan had been in contact with Singh since 1968, attempting to persuade him to support non-violent agrarian reform struggles.Mohanty, Manoranjan.
Revolutionary Violence. A Study of the Maoist Movement in India
'.
New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
: Sterling Publishers, 1977. p. xx-xxi
On 4 July 1975 the Indian government banned 27 organisations, Singh's CPI(ML) was one of them. Under the ''
Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...
'' Singh's CPI(ML) formulated a three-tier
united front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political and/ ...
line, calling for the formation of a 'revolutionary united front' (consisting of communist revolutionaries, working towards a unified revolutionary communist party), a 'proletarian united front' based on working class struggles (and which could include the
Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...
and the
Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) The Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) or SUCI(C) is an anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist communist party in India. The party was founded by Shibdas Ghosh, Nihar Mukherjee and others in 1948. Ideology SUCI(C) is a communist party in ...
) and a 'democratic front' which would unite forces working for restoration of democratic rights. Within the framework of the 'democratic front' work, party cadres began participating in joint protests with non-left opposition groups at the time. After the defeat of
Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...
in the 1977 Lok Sabha elections, the situation for the party was relaxed somewhat. Singh asserted that although the class character of the new Janata Party government was the same as the Gandhi government, he appreciated differences like improvement of civil liberties and weakening of
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
influence. On 9 April 1977 S.N. Singh signed an appeal along with Khokan Majumder (
Unity Committee, CPI(ML) Unity is the state of being as one (either literally or figuratively). It may also refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, ...
),
Suniti Kumar Ghosh Suniti Kumar Ghosh(Bengali: সুনীতি কুমার ঘোষ;1918 – 11 May 2014) was an Indian Marxist-Leninist revolutionary, writer, and editor. He was one of the founding members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Lenini ...
( COC, CPI(ML)) and Apurba Roy ( UCCRI(ML)), calling for the unconditional release of 12 000 revolutionary prisoners. During the anti-Emergency struggle, the Janata Party had promised to release political prisoners. Once in power however, they had back-tracked on that promise. Singh was involved in negotiations to secure the release of prisoners. Singh's CPI(ML) was the first major ML-factions that opened up for participating in elections, which became a controversial issue. On 10 April 1977 Singh declared the willingness to contest elections at a press conference. The Calcutta District committee denounced the move. Other ML-factions saw as the new line as treachery.On 14 May 1977 Aburpa Roy, Khokan Majumder and Suniti Kumar Ghosh issued a statement claiming that Singh was turning his party into a
social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...
party and for being a 'surrenderist'. Santosh Rana was denounced by his own wife on the issue of electoral participation. Pro-Charu Majumdar factions were even more stern in their condemnations. Mohanty, Manoranjan.
Revolutionary Violence. A Study of the Maoist Movement in India
'.
New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
: Sterling Publishers, 1977. p. xxvi-xxvii
In 1971 Santosh Rana was elected to the
West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...
state assembly from the
Gopiballavpur Gopiballavpur is a town and a gram panchayat in the Gopiballavpur I CD block in the Jhargram subdivision of the Jhargram district of West Bengal, India. History Earlier this area was a part of Mayurbhanj princely state. The place was earlier ...
constituency (one of the areas were CPI(ML) had started armed struggle following the model of the
Naxalbari Naxalbari ( Bengali: ''Nôkśālbāṛi'', ; also spelled Naksalbari) is a village in the Naxalbari CD block in the Siliguri subdivision of the Darjeeling district in the state of West Bengal, India. Naxalbari is known for being the site of ...
uprising). Rana got 13401 votes (25,67%), which was enough to defeat the CPI(M),
Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...
and
Janata Party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...
candidates. Singh's CPI(ML) were also able to register the party name ''Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)'' with the Election Commission of India, but the registration was later lost.


Post-1984 period

Around 1980 Singh's group appeared as the strongest ML-faction, but with the exit of Chandrapulla Reddy and other splits the party shrunk. In 1984 a severe split occurred, with the loyalists of Singh opposed to the group of Santosh Rana and Vaskar Nandy. The Singh faction levelled the following accusation: "In our organisation also, Nandy’s close associates established contacts with a foreign voluntary agency and a native voluntary agency financed by Western monopoly capital, keeping it secret from the POC and the general secretary of the party, S N Singh. They established contact with Rural Aid Consortium of Tagore Society which is financed by West European countries and the USA and with one Danish Organisation on the Plea of providing relief to the people of Gobiballabpur in West Bengal and some areas in Bihar. Lakhs of rupees were received for digging tanks, constructing school building opening a sewing training center and distributing chickens and cattle to the needy. It also came to our notice that money was being received by some of our leaders from the Lutheran Church. When it came to light to the PCC members, an intense ideological struggle burst forth in the party on this issue." (Our differences with Nandy-Rana group, PCC-CPI(ML), p. 29) The group of Rana came to win a majority in the leadership (the provisional central committee) and Singh's followers formed a new committee (and de facto a new party). Singh died shortly afterwards. Rana's group differentiates themselves from other ML-factions through their emphasis on antifascism. Rana considers the Hindu nationalist
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. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...
(BJP) as a fascist danger for India. PCC, CPI(ML) gives the advice to their followers to vote for parties like
CPI(M) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electoral seats, and one of the six national parties of India. ...
or even the
Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...
in constituencies were no revolutionary communist candidate is available. Ahead of the 2004
Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...
elections the party participated in the united front of revolutionary communists initiated by
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Red Flag The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led militant struggles such as the peasant revo ...
and
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...
. In the
Bodo Bodo may refer to: Ethnicity * Boro people, also called ''Bodo'', an ethno-linguistic group mainly from Northwest Assam, India * Bodo-Kachari people, an umbrella group from Nepal, India and Bangladesh that includes the Boro people Culture an ...
-dominated areas in
Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...
, the party works through a mass organization called United Reservation Movement Council of Assam. PCC, CPI(ML) and URMCA are opponents of the Bodo nationalist movements. In the
Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...
elections in 2004 the URMCA candidate in
Kokrajhar Kokrajhar () is a town in the Bodoland Territorial Region, an Autonomous administrative divisions of India, autonomous territory in Assam, one of the Northeast India, North Eastern states of India. History Under the Kingdom of Bhutan From the ...
got 205 491 votes (21,25%). In the 1999 election the URMCA candidate had gotten 246 942 votes (27,75%) in the same constituency. PCC, CPI(ML) publishes ''For a New Democracy'' as its central organ. The editor-in-chief is Vaskar Nandy.


References


External links


The Fascist Danger and our Tasks
PCC, CPI(ML) document from 1998. {{DEFAULTSORT:Provisional Central Committee, Communist Party Of India (Marxist-Leninist) 1973 establishments in India Communist parties in India International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organizations (International Newsletter) International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations Political parties established in 1973 Political parties disestablished in 2024