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Deo Prakash Rai

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Deo Prakash Rai (December 1926 – 1981) was an Indian politician. A former Gorkha Brigade soldier, he was the general secretary of the All India Gorkha League and was made a minister in the West Bengal state government in 1967, 1969 and 1971.

Youth

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Rai was born at Tukvar Tea Estate in Darjeeling in December 1926.[1] He was the son of K.S. Sotang.[1] He went to school at the Arung School of Education, obtaining a Higher English Certificate of Education.[1]

Soldier

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Rai served in the Gorkha Brigade for three years during the Second World War.[1][2] He reached the rank of colour sergeant.[3] In 1950, he was arrested in Malaya and deported, having been denounced as a "communist agent" by John Cross, chief instructor of the new Army School of Education (Gurkhas).[3][4][5]

In politics and trade unionism

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Rai was general secretary of the All India Gorkha League.[6] In 1946, the Communist Party of India (CPI) proposed the notion of creating a "Gorkhasthan", merging Nepal, south Sikkim and the Darjeeling hills.[6] The CPI tried to convince the Gorkha League to support the Gorkhasthan proposal, but Rai categorically opposed it.[6] As a trade unionist, he was the founder of Darjeeling Chiya Kaman Shramik Sangha.[1] He was patron of the Darjeeling Cultural Institute.[1] As an author, he wrote many poems and short stories in the Nepali language.[1]

Legislator

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Rai represented the Darjeeling constituency in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 1957 until his death.[7]

Minister

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Rai was named Minister for Scheduled Castes and Tribes Welfare in the 1967 and 1969 United Front governments of West Bengal.[2][7][8] He was again named as Minister in the 1971 state government, now in charge of Scheduled Castes Tribal Welfare and Tourism.[2][9]

For a quarter of a century, Rai was the dominant politician in the Darjeeling hills.[10] He received criticism from within his own community, which accused him of having entered into a secret pact with the state government in Calcutta.[10] While Raj was a minister in three successive state cabinets, no progress on administrative autonomy for the Darjeeling hills was made.[9]

1977 election

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At the time of the 1977 elections, Rai was weakened by illness.[6]

Rai died in 1981.[10] After his death, his party was weakened and more militant factions such as Pranta Parishad and the Gorkha National Liberation Front came to dominate the political field in the hills.[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g West Bengal (India). Legislature. Legislative Assembly (1974). Who's who 1972: General Election, March 1972. West Bengal Legislative Assembly Secretariat. p. 67.
  2. ^ a b c India Who's who. INFA Publications. 2000. p. 156.
  3. ^ a b The Call of Nepal. Educational Enterprises. 1996. p. 52.
  4. ^ Tony Gould (1999). Imperial warriors: Britain and the Gurkhas. Granta Books. p. 335. ISBN 978-1-86207-284-8.
  5. ^ The Times of India Directory and Year Book Including Who's who. Bennett, Coleman & Company. 1968. p. 932.
  6. ^ a b c d Amiya K. Samanta (2000). Gorkhaland Movement: A Study in Ethnic Separatism. APH Publishing. pp. 90, 99. ISBN 978-81-7648-166-3.
  7. ^ a b Communist Party of India (Marxist). West Bengal State Committee. Election results of West Bengal: statistics & analysis, 1952–1991. The Committee. pp. 379–380, 460. ISBN 978-81-7626-028-2.
  8. ^ Ranabir Samaddar (13 December 2005). The Politics of Autonomy: Indian Experiences. SAGE Publications. p. 182. ISBN 978-81-321-0364-6.
  9. ^ a b Raṇabīra Samāddāra; Helmut Reifeld; Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (1 June 2001). Peace as process: reconciliation and conflict resolution in South Asia. Manohar Publishers & Distributors. p. 270. ISBN 978-81-7304-397-0.
  10. ^ a b c Romit Bagchi (13 June 2012). Gorkhaland: Crisis of Statehood. SAGE Publications. p. 108. ISBN 978-81-321-1680-6.
  11. ^ Maitreyee Choudhury (2008). Himalayan Studies in India. Mittal Publications. p. 94. ISBN 978-81-8324-196-0.
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