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Sudha Roy

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Sudha Roy (1914–1987) was an Indian communist trade unionist and politician. She was a prominent leader of the Bengal Labour Party, the Bolshevik Party of India and later joined the Communist Party of India.[1] She was one of the most prominent female leaders of the Bengali left.[2]

Youth

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Roy was born in 1914 into a Kayastha landlord family in Faridpur.[3] She joined labour movement in the 1930s, having been introduced to labour politics by her brother Sisir Roy during her student days.[3][4][5][6] Alongside her brother, she became a key leader of the Bengal Labour Party when it was founded in 1933.[7]

Bolshevik Party joins CPI

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The Bolshevik Party joined the Communist Party in early 1936, and Sudha Roy also joined the CPI. She was probably the second woman to join the illegal CPI in Bengal. The first one was Latika Sen. Latika became a martyr in police firing on April 27, 1949.

Bolshevik Party once again reconstituted and re-emerged as a party. That was in 1939 in Tripuri Congress on the question of Subhash Bose. The leaders of Bolshevik Party such as Niharendu Dutt, Bishwanath Dubey, Sisir Roy and others felt that the CPI should have supported Bose in his forma- tion of Forward Bloc. They also felt that CPI was following a policy of class collabora- tion in the name of national united front. Sudha Roy also attended the Tripuri Con- gress as a Communist delegate and took part in important CPI meetings. She too left CPI along with others to join the Bolshevik Party.

In 1941, she gave up her job for a time to work in the BLP.

Labour organiser

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She worked as mathematics teacher at Kamala Girls School in south Calcutta between 1932 and 1958.[3][8][9] At the time she was a well-known labour leader.[8] Roy, nicknamed Bahinji ('Honoured sister') by dock workers, would pass the Kidderpore dock daily in the afternoon for union tasks.[4][8][9]

Women's movement

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Roy joined the women's movement in 1943, being active in the All India Women's Conference.[3][1] Roy served as vice chair of the National Federation of Indian Women between 1954 and 1982.[3][10][11]

Electoral politics

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Sudha Roy was the sole candidate of the BPI in the 1951–1952 parliamentary election.[12] She stood in Barrackpore constituency and obtained 25,792 votes (16.2% of vote in the constituency).[12]

She was jailed in 1954.[3]

Roy contested the Fort constituency in the 1957 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.[13] She finished in fourth place, with 9.75% of the votes.[13]

In UTUC

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In 1958 Sudha Roy's union, the Dock Mazdoor Union, underwent a split. Sisir Roy, Sudha Roy and Buthnath De were pitted against Bishwanath Dubey.[14] Whilst Roy's group constituted the majority faction, the split significantly weakened the union.[14]

Sisir Roy died in 1960, and Sudha Roy succeeded him in the post as general secretary of the United Trade Union Congress.[15][16][17][18]

Joining CPI

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At the 1965 BPI party conference Sudha Roy called for a merger between BPI and CPI.[5] The conference rejected a merger and Sudha Roy and her followers left BPI to join CPI.[5] After shifting to CPI, she joined the All India Trade Union Congress.[19]

She extended firm and active support to Bangladesh liberation struggle in the 1970s.

Roy chaired the State Social Welfare Board between 1969 and 1973.[3][20] Roy founded the Mahila Sanskritik Saimmelan ('Women's Cultural Conference').[3]

Sudha Roy died on June 7, 1987, after prolonged illness.[21]

References

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  1. ^ a b Maṇikuntalā Sena (1 April 2001). In search of freedom: an unfinished journey. Stree. p. 57. ISBN 978-81-85604-25-1.
  2. ^ Sampa Guha (1996). Political Participation of Women in a Changing Society. Inter-India Publications. p. 105. ISBN 978-81-210-0344-5.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Sunil Kumar Sen (1985). The working women and popular movements in Bengal: from the Gandhi era to the present day. K.P. Bagchi. p. 96. ISBN 9780836416039.
  4. ^ a b Samita Sen (6 May 1999). Women and Labour in Late Colonial India: The Bengal Jute Industry. Cambridge University Press. pp. 229–230. ISBN 978-0-521-45363-9.
  5. ^ a b c S. N. Sadasivan (1977). Party and democracy in India. Tata McGraw-Hill. pp. 90–92. ISBN 9780070965911.
  6. ^ Amitabha Mukherjee (1 January 1996). Women in Indian Life and Society. Punthi Pustak and Institute of Historical Studies. p. 240. ISBN 978-81-85094-97-7.
  7. ^ Socialist Perspective. Vol. 17. Council for Political Studies. 1989. p. 276.
  8. ^ a b c Leela Gulati; Jasodhara Bagchi (7 April 2005). A Space of Her Own: Personal Narratives of Twelve Women. SAGE Publications. p. 232. ISBN 978-81-321-0341-7.
  9. ^ a b Labour File: A Bimonthly Journal of Labour and Economic Affairs. Vol. 5. Information and Feature Trust. 2007. p. 116.
  10. ^ Link: Indian Newsmagazine. Vol. 16. 1974. p. 34.
  11. ^ National Federation of Indian Women. Congress (1981). Tenth Congress, National Federation of Indian Women, Trivandrum, December 27–30, 1980. The Federation. p. 102.
  12. ^ a b Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTIONS, 1951 TO THE FIRST LOK SABHA VOLUME I (NATIONAL AND STATE ABSTRACTS & DETAILED RESULTS)
  13. ^ a b Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1957 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL
  14. ^ a b Michael v. d Bogaert (1970). Trade Unionism in Indian Ports: A Case Study at Calcutta and Bombay. Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations. p. 26.
  15. ^ Harold A. Crouch (1966). Trade Unions and Politics in India. Manaktalas. p. 233.
  16. ^ United Trades Union Congress (1964). Report. UTUC. p. 7.
  17. ^ The Times of India Directory and Year Book Including Who's who. Bennett, Coleman & Company. 1967. p. 528.
  18. ^ The Call. Vol. 16. S. Bhattacharya. 1964. p. 87.
  19. ^ Paul Francis Magnelia (1967). The International Union of Students. Peninsula Lithograph Company. p. 185.
  20. ^ National Council of Women in India Bulletin. National Council of Women in India. 1971. p. 45.
  21. ^ Trade Union Record. Vol. 45. All-India Trade Union Congress. 1987. p. 116.
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