All India Forward Bloc

Infobox_Indian_Political_Party
party_name = All India Forward Bloc
party_
secretary = Debabrata Biswashttp://www.eci.gov.in/mis-Political_Parties/organisational_election_state_parties.pdf]
chairman = D.D. Shastri
eci = State Party
foundation = 1939
alliance = Left Front
ideology = Left-wing nationalism, Socialism
publication = "Towards Socialism", "Lokmat"
headquarters = 28, Gurudwara Rakab Ganj Road, New Delhi 110001
coord|28|37|11.1|N|77|12|11.5|E
website = [http://www.forwardbloc.org forwardbloc.org] The All India Forward Bloc is a leftwing nationalist political party in India. It emerged as a faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, led by Subhas Chandra Bose. The party re-established as an independent political party after the independence of India. It has its main stronghold in West Bengal.

History

Formation of the Forward Bloc

The Forward Bloc of the Indian National Congress was formed on 3 May 1939 by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who had resigned from the presidency of the Indian National Congress on April 29 after being outmaneuvered by Gandhi. The formation of the Forward Bloc was announced to the public at a rally in Calcutta. Initially the aim of the Forward Bloc was to rally all the leftwing sections within the Congress and develop an alternative leadership inside the Congress. Bose became the president of the Forward Bloc and S.S. Cavesheer its vice-president. A Forward Bloc Conference was held in Bombay in the end of June. At that conference the constitution and programme of the Forward Bloc were approved. [Ghosh, Asok (ed.), "A Short History of the All India Forward Bloc". Kolkata: Bengal Lokmat Printers Pvt Ltd., 2001. pp. 29–30] In July 1939 Subhas Chandra Bose announced the Committee of the Forward Bloc. It had Subhas Chandra Bose as president, S.S. Cavesheer from Punjab as its vice-president, Lal Shankarlal from Delhi, as its general secretary and Pandit B Tripathi and Khurshed Nariman from Bombay as secretaries. Other prominent members were Annapurniah from Andhra Pradesh, Senapati Bapat, Hari Vishnu Kamnath from Bombay, Pasumpon U Muthuramalingam Thevar from Tamilnadu and Sheel Bhadra Yajee from Bihar. Satya Ranjan Bakshi, was appointed as the secretary of the Bengal Provincial Forward Bloc. [http://banglapedia.search.com.bd/HT/F_0171.htm Banglapedia] ]

In August the same year Bose began publishing a newspaper titled "Forward Bloc". He travelled around the country, rallying support for his new political project.

Nagpur conference

The following year, on June 20–22 1940, the Forward Bloc held its first All India Conference in Nagpur. The conference declared the Forward Bloc to be a socialist political party, and the date of June 22 is considered as the founding date of the party by the Forward Bloc itself. The conference passed a resolution titled 'All Power to the Indian People', urging militant action for struggle against British colonial rule. Subhas Chandra Bose was elected as the president of the party and H.V. Kamath the general secretary. [Ghosh, Asok (ed.), "A Short History of the All India Forward Bloc". Kolkata: Bengal Lokmat Printers Pvt Ltd., 2001. pp. 32–4, 55]

Arrest and exile of Bose

Soon thereafter, on July 2, Bose was arrested and detained in Presidency Jail, Calcutta. In January 1941 he escaped from house arrest, and clandestinely went into exile. He travelled to the Soviet Union via Afghanistan, seeking Soviet support for the Indian independence struggle. Stalin declined Bose's request, and he then travelled to Germany. In Berlin he set up the Free India Centre, and rallied the Indian Legion. [Ghosh, Asok (ed.), "A Short History of the All India Forward Bloc". Kolkata: Bengal Lokmat Printers Pvt Ltd., 2001. pp. 36, 39]

In August 1942 the British authorities banned the Forward Bloc. Its offices around the country were ransacked. In 1943 Bose was transported to Asia, were he took over the leadership of the Indian National Army. During the final phase of the war the INA fought alongside the Japanese against the British army.

Inside India, local activists of the Forward Bloc was continued anti-British activities without central coordination. For example, in Bihar members were involved in the Azad Dasta resistance groups, and distributed propaganda in support of Bose and INA. They did not have, however, any organic link neither with Bose nor the INA. [Ramayan Singh was involved in these activities. [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-749X%28199207%2926%3A3%3C417%3AADADGT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0] ]

Post-war reorganization

At the end of the war, the Forward Bloc was reorganized. In February 1946 R.S. Ruiker organised an All India Active Workers Conference at Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. The conference declared the formation of the 'FB Workers Assembly', in practice the legal cover of the still illegal Forward Bloc. Notably some leading communists from Bombay, like K.N. Joglekar and Soli Batliwalli, joined the 'FB Workers Assembly'. The Workers Assembly conference declared that the "Forward Bloc is a Socialist Party, accepting the theory of class struggle in its fullest implications and a programme of revolutionary mass action for the attainment of Socialism leading to a Classless Society." [Ghosh, Asok (ed.), "A Short History of the All India Forward Bloc". Kolkata: Bengal Lokmat Printers Pvt Ltd., 2001. pp. 42–3]

The Ahead of the 1946 assembly elections the ban on the Bloc was lifted in June that year. The Working Committee of the Forward Bloc met on June 10. [The members of the Working Committee at the time were Subhas Chandra Bose (Sr. Founder President), S.S. Cavesheer (President), R.S. Ruikar (Vice-President), Sheel Bhadra Yagee (Vice-President), Hari Vishnu Kamath (General Secretary), Mukundalal Sarkar (Secretary), Vishwanbhar Dayal Tripathi (Secretary), Prof. Bidesh Kulkarni (Secretary), Rajmannar Chity (Secretary), Satyanarayan Bajaj (Treasurer), Mian Akber Shah, Alim T. Gidwani, Lala Shankarlal, Ramgati Ganguly, Mathura Prasad Misra, Lila Roy, Harendra Nath Ghosh, Ashrafuddin Ahmad Chowdhury, A.M.A. Zaman, Satyanarayan Bakshim, Kusum Ranjan Chowdhury, Senapati M.P. Bapat, H.J. Khandekar, V.V. Subedar, Dr. S.G. Patwardhan, B.P. Bappaya, U. Muthuramalingam Thevar, R.A. Mandgi, Giridhar Thakkar, K.N. Joglekar, Ram Bhaw Nishel and Sardar Niranjan Singh Talib. Ghosh, Asok (ed.), "A Short History of the All India Forward Bloc". Kolkata: Bengal Lokmat Printers Pvt Ltd., 2001. pp. 43–5.]

Elections to the Constituent Assembly and to provincial legislatures were held in December 1946. The Forward Bloc contested the elections. H.V. Kamath won a seat in the Constituent Assembly and Jyotish Chandra Ghosh, Hemantha Kumar Basu and Lila Roy were elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly. [Ghosh, Asok (ed.), "A Short History of the All India Forward Bloc". Kolkata: Bengal Lokmat Printers Pvt Ltd., 2001. p. 45]

However, the Bloc was clearly divided along ideological lines. One section was influenced by Marxism whereas the other upheld 'Subhasism', a syncretic ideology consisting of socialism, nationalism and Indian spiritualism.

Arrah conference

The Bloc held its 2nd All India Conference in Arrah, Bihar on January 12–14 1947. S.S. Cavesheer (a leading member of the Subhasist sector) was elected president and Sheel Bhadra Yagee (a leading member of the Marxist sector) was elected general secretary. [Ghosh, Asok (ed.), "A Short History of the All India Forward Bloc". Kolkata: Bengal Lokmat Printers Pvt Ltd., 2001. p. 55] The party took the name 'All India Forward Bloc'. The conference denounced the understanding between the Congress and the British government for the Independence of India, and called upon the Forward Bloc members present in the Constituent Assembly to withdraw from it. [H.K. Kamath, a Forward Bloc executive committee member and delegate in the Constituent Assembly, refused to go along with this order. He kept his seat in the Constituent Assembly and resigned from the party.] Subsequently, a national council was held in Bauria, West Bengal, which reaffirmed the demand of boycotting the Constituent Assembly as well as issuing a decree that Bloc members of state legislatures would resign.

plit between Yajee and Ruikar

Following Independence and Partition, the party national council met in Varanasi February 1948. The national council meeting was also preceded by a decision of the Indian National Congress in the beginning of the year to expel all dissenting tendencies within the Congress, including the Forward Bloc. Thus the party decided to renounce any links with the Congress once and for all, and reconstruct itself as an independent opposition party. [Bose, K.; "Forward Bloc". Madras: 1988, Tamil Nadu Academy of Political Science. p. 85] Moreover, it passed a resolution that the party be divided into a Forward Bloc for India and a Forward Bloc for the new nation of Pakistan. This would soon prove to be very controversial. The general secretary Yagee did, in line with the Varanasi resolution, dissolve the Bengal committee of the Forward Bloc and set-up "ad hoc" committees for West Bengal and East Bengal. Now the division between 'Marxists' and 'Subhasists' resurfaced. The 'Subhasists', and S. S. Cavesheer in particular, criticized Yajee's actions. [Notably, the Forward Bloc faction led by Ruiker and Cavesheer was the last group in the West Bengal left to raise the slogan of a united Bengal. Ahead of the 1952 general election, the Ruiker-led Forward Bloc called for "a Bengali Union of Socialist Republics ... a people's state unifying all shades of difference and autonomy in a federal government." [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0004-4687%28197007%2910%3A7%3C588%3ACARPIE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-V Franda, "Communism and Regional Politics in East Pakistan"] .] Yagee resigned from the post of general secretary.

The split was now a fact. The 'Subhasist' group, led by Ruiker and Cavesheer, called for a conference in Chandranagar, West Bengal. Their conference was held on December 29–31. On the same dates Yagee organised a conference in Calcutta. Effectively there was now two Forward Blocs, the Forward Bloc led by Ruiker and the Forward Bloc led by Yajee. Yajee was elected general secretary and K. N. Joglekar, chairman of the Yajee-led group.Ghosh, Asok (ed.), "A Short History of the All India Forward Bloc". Kolkata: Bengal Lokmat Printers Pvt Ltd., 2001. p. 56.] Notably, the Yajee-led group adopted a red flag with a leaping tiger and a hammer and sickle.

Roughly speaking the Yajee's party had its main base in Bihar, Punjab and West Bengal, whereas the Ruiker-led group had its strongholds in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal. [ [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0362-8949%2819520109%2921%3A1%3C1%3AIGE%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X] ]

The same year Yajee's party decided to join the United Socialist Organisation of India, a front led by Subhas Chandra Bose's elder brother Sarat Chandra Bose. Joglekar revolted against this decision. His followers, which were found in West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, rallied to form the Forward Communist Party.

The Yajee-led party did however survive Joglekar's departure. Yagee was able to push through a merger between the Forward Bloc and the Desh Sevak Party, led by INA officers General Mohan Singh and Colonel Guridal Singh Dhillon, in October 1949. Both had worked closely with Subhas Chandra Bose. They had both been amongst the accused in the Red Fort trials. Now, Mohan Singh was appointed chairman of the Forward Bloc and Dhillon was appointed as its general secretary. This merger gave a considerable moral boost to the party. In June 1951 the majority of the Ruiker-led Forward Bloc reunified with the party. A joint central committee meeting was held on June 23, which confirmed the merger of the two parties. Mohan Singh and Dhillon were re-elected as the party chairman and general secretary.

1952 elections

In the 1952 general election the party contested as 'Forward Bloc (Marxist)', a denomination that differentiated it from the rump 'Forward Bloc (Ruiker)'.

In Tripura a united front was formed by the Communist Party of India, Tripura Ganatantrik Sangha, Ganamukti Parishad, Ganatantrik Nari Samiti and independents for to contest the election to the Tripura electoral college (whose function was to appoint a Rajya Sabha delegate from Tripura) jointly. The Forward Bloc participated in mass rallies on October 2 and December 2, 1951. However, just before the election the Forward Bloc withdrew from the front and decided to contest three of the 30 seats on their own. None of the Forward Bloc candidates were elected. [Basu, Pradip Kumar; "The Communist Movement in Tripura", Calcutta: Progressive Publishers, 1996. pp. 98, 100]

The 5th party conference (a 4th party plenum had been held in Ingota, U.P. in 1949) was held in Puri, Orissa on December 28–31 1952. Mohan Singh was elected chairman and Dhillon as general secretary.

In 1953 a group of party leaders from West Bengal, like Amar Bose, Satyapriya Banerjee and Suhurit Chaudhury, were expelled for breaking party discipline. The expellees formed the Marxist Forward Bloc.

Expulsion of Yagee and Singh

In 1955 the Indian National Congress adopted socialism as its policy. Thus leaders like Yagee and Singh then proposed that as the Congress had become a socialist party, the Forward Bloc ought to merge with it. Singh and Yagee, without consulting the Central Committee nor the party membership, declared the unification of the Forward Bloc into the Congress. Many sections of the party disagreed with this move, and a Central Committee meeting was held in Nagpur May 11-15. The Central Committee decided to expel Singh and Yagee. Hemanta Kumar Bose was elected as the new chairman and R.K. Haldulkar as general secretary. [Ghosh, Asok (ed.), "A Short History of the All India Forward Bloc". Kolkata: Bengal Lokmat Printers Pvt Ltd., 2001. p. 57] This team would continue in their posts until Bose's murder in 1971. U. Muthuramalingam Thevar from Tamil Nadu was elected as deputy chairman of the party.

Following the 1955 split the party would enjoy a relatively long period without any major splits.

ocialist unity

In 1964 a unity process was initiated by the Praja Socialist Party, which eventually resulted in the formation of the Samyukta Socialist Party. The Forward Bloc was invited to join the new party, and the Delhi unit of the party did take part in a joint socialist anti-Nehru campaign conference in April 1964. [ [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0030-851X%28196523%2F196624%2938%3A3%2F4%3C245%3ATBOISS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-G] ] However, the party did not merge into the SSP.

Death of U.M. Thevar

The party stalwart in Tamil Nadu, U. Muthuramalingam Thevar, died on October 30 1963. Following his death a power-struggle began between two of his disciples, Sasivarna Thevar and P.K. Mookiah Thevar. Mookiah Thevar emerged victorious and Sasivarna Thevar left to form his own party, the Subhasist Forward Bloc.

A bye-election for the Aruppukottai Lok Sabha constituency seat vacated by U. Muthuramalingam Thevar's death was held in 1964, in which the Forward Bloc was defeated for the first time. [Velayudham Nayar was the Forward Bloc candidate. His candidature was supported by the Swatantra Party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Indian Union Muslim League. Nayar was defeated by the Congress candidate R.K. Dorai (brother of the Raja of Ramnad). Nayar got 131 281 votes, against 138 358 for Dorai. 2 independent candidates were also in the fray. [http://www.eci.gov.in/ByeElection/index.htm] ]

Progressive Front in Tripura

In 1965 the party joined a 'Progressive Front' in Tripura. The front consisted of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, the Forward Bloc and a break-away faction of the Socialist Party. The front demanded nationwide land reforms, strengthening of the national defence, withdrawal from the Commonwealth, nationalisation of foreign capital, a rational food policy, release of all political prisoners and scrapping of the Indo-American agreement of food supply. Existence of the new front was declared at a meeting in Agartala on November 17. Mass rallies of the front were held in Belonia on November 28 and then in Birchandra Bazar (near Belonia) on December 1. [Basu, Pradip Kumar; "The Communist Movement in Tripura", Calcutta: Progressive Publishers, 1996. p. 124.] The front did not last, though, as in the 1967 election the communist parties aligned with a splinter-group of the Congress Party. The Forward Bloc did not present any candidates in that election. [ [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/SE_1967/Statistical%20Report%20Tripura%201967.pdf ECI] ]

1968 split in Tamil Nadu

In 1968 two influential party leaders in Tamil Nadu Velayudham Nayar (then a central committee member of the party) and S. Andi Thevar broke away from AIFB and founded the Revolutionary Forward Bloc. Nayar and Thevar accused the Forward Bloc of having deviated from its socialist principles through its cooperation with the rightwing Swatantra Party. [At the time, the AIFB members of the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly sat in the same legislative group as the Swatantra members. The leader of the Forward Bloc in Tamil Nadu, P.K. Mookiah Thevar, was considered as very close to the Swatantra leader C. Rajagopalachari. Moreover, Thevar was leading the Swatantra group in the assembly. Bose, K.; "Forward Bloc". Madras: 1988, Tamil Nadu Academy of Political Science. pp. 163, 189, 193]

West Dinajpur clashes

In July 1969, violent clashes erupted in West Dinajpur, West Bengal, between peasants aligned with the of Communist Party of India (Marxist) and East Pakistani refugee cultivators, who supported the Forward Bloc. CPI(M) leader Hare Krishna Konar characterized the events as a degeneration of the agrarian struggles in rural West Bengal. [ [http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0026-749X%28199405%2928%3A2%3C357%3ALAPTMC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-5] ]

plit in the Indian National Congress

In 1969 a major split in the Indian National Congress. Indira Gandhi had entered into open conflict with the traditional Congress leadership. Effectively two separate Congress parties appeared, the Congress(R) led by Indira and the Congress(O) led by Kamaraj. The split was in many ways a left-right one, with Indira whipping up populism against the established party elites. The Forward Bloc did in some ways welcome the new developments. It appreciated Indira's stands and reformulated its anti-Congress line to focus mainly opposition to the traditional Congress elite (i.e. the Congress(O)). In the 1969 presidential elections, AIFB supported Indira's candidate V.V. Giri. This caused an abrupt break-up of the Swatantra-AIFB alliance in Tamil Nadu, as the Swatantra Party sought to align itself with the Congress(O).Now two poles emerged in Tamil politics. Congress(R) formed a 'Progressive Front' with Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Communist Party of India, Praja Socialist Party, Muslim League and Tamil Arasu Kazhagam in November 1970, ahead of the municipal elections. The Progressive Front would also contest the 1971 Lok Sabha and Tamil Nadu state legislative elections. The Swatantra Party and the Congress(O) formed a 'Democratic Front'. Bose, K.; "Forward Bloc". Madras: 1988, Tamil Nadu Academy of Political Science. pp. 193–95]

1971–72 elections

On February 20, just ahead of the 1971 general elections, the All India Forward Bloc chairman Hemantha Kumar Bose was murdered in Calcutta. An emergency central committee meeting was held on February 24, which appointed P.K. Mookiha Thevar as the new chairman of the party.Bose, K.; "Forward Bloc". Madras: 1988, Tamil Nadu Academy of Political Science. p. 196]

In the 1971 Lok Sabha election, the Forward Bloc launched 24 candidates around the country. Two were elected, P.K. Mookiah Thevar from Ramanthapuram [Thevar got 208 431 votes (58.16%), defeating the Congress(O) candidate S. Balakrishnan. [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/LS_1971/Vol_I_LS71.pdf ECI Statistical Report 1971] .] and Jambuwantrao Dhote from Nagpur [Dhote got 125 552 (37.09%). He was challenged by four other candidates, including A.B. Bardhan of the CPI who got around 10%. [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/LS_1971/Vol_I_LS71.pdf ECI Statistical Report 1971] .] . The party contested 3 seats in the interior of Maharashtra, were it performed well. Dhote, who was then known as "Vidarbha ka Sher" (the Lion of Vidarbha), had joined the Forward Bloc and campaigned for a separate Vidarbha state with the Forward Bloc as his platform. Dhote was hugely popular in the region at the time, and could draw crows of hundreds of thousands to his meetings.As mentioned the party won the Nagpur seat. Moreover it came second in the Ramtek (14.32%) and Yeotmal (44.69%, also with Dhote as the candidate) constituencies. [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/LS_1971/Vol_I_LS71.pdf ECI Statistical Report 1971] .] [http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/03/16/stories/2004031606700300.htm The Hindu 16 March 2004] .] [http://www.rediff.com/election/2004/oct/12vidarbha.htm Rediff] 2006-10-12.]

In Tamil Nadu the party contested one seat, Ramanthapuram, with the support of its allies in the Progressive Front (most notably the Congress(R) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam). Meanwhile the Forward Bloc played an important role in securing Mukkulathor votes for its Progressive Front allies.

In West Bengal the party contested 10 Lok Sabha seats. The party obtained some significant votage in constituencies like Cooch Behar (22.17%) and Birbhum (19.70%), but in general it was defeated by the CPI(M) candidates. [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/LS_1971/Vol_I_LS71.pdf ECI] .]

Moreover the party contested three seats in Bihar, one in Haryana, 1 in Madhya Pradesh, 4 in Uttar Pradesh and 1 in Delhi. In total the candidates of the party obtained 962 971 votes (0.66% of the national vote).

In the 1971 state legislative assembly election in Orissa, the party contested four seats. It got 8393 votes (0.19% of the state-wide vote), but was not close to winning any seat. [ [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/SE_1971/StatReport_OR_71.pdf ECI] ] In Tamil Nadu the party contested 9 seats in the southern part of the state within the framework of the Progressive Front.. Out of these nine candidates, seven won. In total its vote stood at 268 721 (1.71% of the state-wide vote). One of its candidate came second and in the Mudukulathor constituency (that had been the centre of the violent 1957 Ramnad riots) the AIFB candidate R. Rathina Thevar came third with 17244 votes (31.02%). The most spectacular victory was that of P.K. Mookiah Thevar (who contested Lok Sabha and assembly elections simultaneously) who got 49292 votes (74.46%) in the Usilampatti constituency, defeating S. Andi Thevar of the Revolutionary Forward Bloc. [After the elections, P.K. Mookiah Thevar decided to retain his Lok Sabha seat. Thus a by-election was held for the Usilampatti assembly seat. The Forward Bloc nominated its Tamil Nadu state secretary K. Kandaswamy who was challenged by S. Andi Thevar. Kandaswamy won with 36351 votes against 16362 for Thevar. [http://www.eci.gov.in/ByeElection/Bye-ele-results%2052-95.xls By-election results] , ECI.] [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/SE_1971/StatReport_TN_71.pdf ECI] .] Lastly in West Bengal the party contested 52 constituencies, but could only win three seats. Its vote stood at 374 141 (2.90% of the state-wide vote). [Mihir Kumar Ray won the Mekhliganj seat, Apurba Lal Majumdar in Bagdaha and Saral Deb in Barasat. [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/SE_1971/StatReport_WB_71.pdf ECI] .]

On March 28, 1972 the party was able to win a seat in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council (the upper house of the regional parliament) for the first time. S. Sakthi Mohan, the editor of the regional party organ "Kannagi", was elected with the votes of the AIFB, DMK, PSP, Muslim League and the Tamil Arasu Kazhagam.

In the 1972 state legislative assembly election, the Forward Bloc presented one candidate in Assam [Man Mohan Paul of the AIFB stood in the Lumding constituency. He got 2403 votes (6.37%), trailing behind both CPI(M) and CPI candidates. The election was won by the Congress Party. [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/SE_1972/Statistical%20Report%20Assam%201972.pdf Assam 1972] , ECI.] , 5 in Bihar [In total the AIFB candidates in Bihar got 20 525 votes. Ghanshyam Mahto came second with 7560 votes (21.68%) in the Ichagarh constituency. Satya Narayan Yadav came fourth in Sarath with 6535 votes (17.44%), and Ramayan Singh came fourth in Bikram with 4662 votes (7.96%). [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/SE_1972/StatisticalRep_Bh_72.pdf ECI] .] and 2 in Madhya Pradesh [R.K. Haldulkar came third in the Chhindwara constituency with 2656 votes (8.99%). His party colleague Basantrao Shivajee got 875 votes (1.87%) in Pandhurna. [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/SE_1972/StatisReport_MP_72.pdf ECI] .] . In Maharashtra the party contested 26 seats. Like in the 1971 Lok Sabha elections the party did well in the interior areas of the state. It won the Nagpur North and Yeotmal seats, and came second in several others. In total the AIFB candidates in Maharashtra got 363 547 votes (2.4% of the state-wide vote). [ [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/SE_1972/StatReport_MT_72.pdf ECI] ] In West Bengal, were fresh elections to the state assembly were again held in 1972, the Forward Bloc launched 18 candidates. It got 331 244 votes (2.48% of the state-wide vote), but could not win a single seat. [ [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/SE_1972/StatReport_WB_72.pdf ECI] ]

Realignment in Tripura

After having contested the 1972 elections on its own, the Forward Bloc decided to join a 'United Front' led by the communist parties in Tripura. [The front had been formed by CPI(M) and CPI on November 2 1973. AIFB and the RSP joined the front on November 14.] The front demanded clear-cut policies for procurement and distribution of food grains, stop to sprilalling prices of essential commodities, a land reform legislation for delimitation of Tribal reserve areas and creation of employments opportunities for the unemployed. A 24-hour Tripura Bandh was organised by the front on December 16. On May 3, 1974 the four parties organised a 12-hour Tripura Bandh. [Basu, Pradip Kumar; "The Communist Movement in Tripura", Calcutta: Progressive Publishers, 1996. pp. 146, 149.]

1977 elections

1977 was a crucial year in Indian political history. For the first time in independent India, the Congress Party was routed in a national election. The Forward Bloc had contested four seats in the Lok Sabha election. In West Bengal it had three candidates which were supported by the Left Front, out of whom all three were elected. [Amrendranath Roy Pradhan won in Cooch Behar with 226 521 votes (64.69%), Chitta Basu won in Barasat with 203 694 votes (56.15%) and Chittaranjan Matara won in Purulia with 200 985 votes (68.33%). [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/LS_1977/Vol_I_LS_77.pdf 1977] ECI.] Moreover, the party contested one seat in Haryana. [K.K. Toofan of the Forward Bloc contested the Mahendragarh seat in Haryana. Toofan got 2444 votes (0.53%). [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/LS_1977/Vol_I_LS_77.pdf Statistical Report 1977] , ECI.] .

In Tripura a Left Front was formed consisting of the CPI(M), RSP and the Forward Bloc. The Front launched one Forward Bloc candidate, Brajagopal Roy in the Town Bordowali constituency. Roy won the seat with 7800 votes (62.76%). In the beginning of 1978 the Left Front formed a majority government in the state, with Brajagopal Roy appointed minister in the state government. [Basu, Pradip Kumar; "The Communist Movement in Tripura", Calcutta: Progressive Publishers, 1996. pp. 156–57, [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/SE_1977/StatisticalReport%201977%20Tripura.pdf ECI] ]

Recent history

Ahead of the 2000 Bihar legislative election AIFB took part in building a front together with the Bharatiya Jan Congress, the Bihar Vikas Party, the Janata Dal (Secular), the Samajwadi Janata Party and the Nationalist Congress Party. The front vowed to maintain equidistance towards the two major blocs in Bihari politics, the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the National Democratic Alliance, condeming them as 'casteist and communal'. [SJP leader Ramsunder Das was chosen as the convenor of the front. A 13-member committee was formed to coordinate the political activities of the front. [http://www.tribuneindia.com/1999/99aug28/spotlite.htm Tribune 28 August, 1999] ]

In 2002 AIFB was one of four leftwing parties that nominated Lakshmi Sehgal as a candidate for the presidency of India. Sehgal, who challenged the main candidate A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, got around 10% of the votes.

Just before the 2006 Tamil Nadu legislative election, the party was joined by the actor Karthik. Karthik was given the post of president of the Tamil Nadu state unit by the national party leadership and was put in charge of the election campaign of the party in the state. The party decided to contest a large number of seats wiuthout joining neither of the two major political blocs in Tamil Nadu. The appointment of Karthik as the new leader of the state unit provoked the sole Forward Bloc legislator and secretary of the state unit, L. Santhanam to leave the party. [L. Santhanam had argued that the party should take part in the election as an ally of AIADMK. After his departure from the party, the AIADMK allotted one seat for him to contest in the election. [http://www.hindu.com/2006/02/06/stories/2006020611660100.htm Hindu] 2006-02-06.] [http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060109/asp/nation/story_5698556.asp Telegraph India] .] In the election the party lost its representation in the assembly. A few months later the party leadership expelled Karthik on the grounds of 'anti-party activities' [According to the national party leadership, Karthik had failed to turn up for Central Committee meetings and had generally acted on his own. Moreover he had been accused of nepotism by sections of the Tamil Nadu unit. [http://www.keralaglobal.com/news/readFullNews.php?ID=82174&cat=CHENNAI Chennai] , Kerala Global.] [http://www.newkerala.com/news4.php?action=fullnews&id=26691 New Kerala] .]

Ahead of the 2006 West Bengal legislative election, a section of the party led by Jayanta Roy, former AIFB Rajya Sabha member, and Chhaya Ghosh, former West Bengal Minister of Agriculture, broke away and formed the Indian People's Forward Bloc. This party aligned itself with the Indian National Congress.

2007 UP election

In the 2007 assembly election in Uttar Pradesh AIFB launched three candidate, Ram Lakhan in Bisalpur (732 votes, 0.51% of the votes in the constituency), Samar Singh in Fatehpur (870 votes, 0.69%) and Jabar Singh in Hastinapur (503 votes, 0.42%). [http://archive.eci.gov.in/May2007/pollupd/ac/candlwc/s24/s24aifbacnst.htm#s24]

Forward Bloc today

AIFB struggles for socialism in India but they consider that their ideology differs from that of Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India, as they build their socialism on foreign ideologues as Marx and Lenin, whereas the socialism of AIFB is the Indian socialism of Subhas Chandra Bose.

AIFB has branches throughout the country, but the main strength of the party is concentrated in West Bengal. It is part of the Left Front government in there, and Forward Bloc has various ministers in the state government. Notably though AIFB is cooperating with CPI(M) in West Bengal, Tripura and on the national level, AIFB is not part of the Left Democratic Front in Kerala.

AIFB, together with the Revolutionary Socialist Party, is significantly more hesitant towards supporting the Congress-led governments than the CPI and CPI(M).

In the Lok Sabha elections 2004 the party received 0,4% of votes and three seats (All from West Bengal).

The current general secretary of AIFB is Debabrata Biswas. D.D. Shastri is the chairman of the party, N. Velappan Nair the deputy secretary and Ashok Ghosh the financial secretary. Additional secretaries of the party are L. Santhanam, Joyanta Roy, Dr. Amar Singh Kushwaha, Dr. Brajagopal Roy, G. Devarajan, Naren Dey, Kalimuddin Shams, Anil Mukherjee, Bir Singh Mahato, V.P. Saini, G.H.Fernandes, Shyam Charan Gaur, Nripen Mahato and Janardhan Pandey.

Andhra Pradesh

In Andhra Pradesh the party had significant presence during the 1950s, but then declined sharply. In 2005 the party took an initiative to revive its Andhra Pradesh State Committee. A.K. Biswas became the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh State Committee. Other State Committee members includes G. Appa Rao, Malla Reddy, K. Narender, Konda Dayanand and D. Venkatesam. The party is opposed to the Congress-led state government. [ [http://www.hindu.com/2006/05/09/stories/2006050920600500.htm The Hindu, 9 May 2006] .] [http://www.hindu.com/2005/07/19/stories/2005071916690500.htm The Hindu, 19 July 2005] .]

Haryana

AIFB has a small state unit in Haryana. The chairman of Haryana state committee is Com. D.K Sharma. In the 2005 election to the Haryana legislative assembly AIFB ran a single candidate, Mukhtiar Singh Kaushik in the Nilokheri constituency. Kaushik got 442 votes (0.44%). [ [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/SE_2005/StatisticalReports_HR_2005.pdf ECI] ]

Tamil Nadu

In Tamil Nadu, the party is mainly based amongst the Thevar community. [ [http://www.hinduonnet.com/2001/04/23/stories/15232239.htm] ]

Tripura

The Forward Bloc established its presence in Tripura in 1948, founded by Bengali immigrants like Sailesh Sen, Gopi Ballav Saha, Dwijen Deu, Anil Dasgupta, Hiren Nandi and Sati Bhardwaz. They took part in various political campaigns. However, around 1955-1956 most of the founding core of the party in Tripura joined the RSP. [Majumder, Benimadhab; "The Legislative Opposition in Tripura", Agartala: Tripura State Tribal Cultural Research Institute & Museum, 1997. p. 19] . [Mohanta, Bijan. "Tripura – In the light of socio-political movements since 1945". Kolkata: Progressive Publishers, 2004. p. 15] Today, AIFB is a member of the ruling Left Front coalition, but since they've failed to win any seat in the state legislative assembly they don't have any minister in that government. In the 2003 Tripura legislative election the Tripura State Committee president Brajagopal Roy contested the Town Borowali constituency on behalf of the Left Front. Roy got 9844 votes (43.57%), but was defeated by a Congress candidate. [ [http://archive.eci.gov.in/Febse2003/pollupd/ac/states/s23/aconst08.htm ECI] ] The secretary of the Tripura State Committee of Shyamal Roy (who replaced the former state committee secretary Nisith Das). [http://www.telegraphindia.com/1050726/asp/northeast/story_5032830.asp The Telegraph 26 July 2005] .] [http://www.dailyexcelsior.com/web1/03feb14/national.htm Excelsior 14 February 2003] .] The AIFB state unit publishes Tripura Bani.

In 2005 the labour fronts of CPI, RSP and AIFB in Tripura formed the Shramik Aikya Manch (Workers United Front), in an attempt to challenge the dominance of the pro-CPI(M) Centre of Indian Trade Unions in the Tripura trade union movement. In the summer of 2005 the AIFB Tripura State Committee vice-president Anil Krishna Sharma was arrested, following clashes between CITU and Shramik Aikya Manch in Northern Tripura.Sharma had been one of the Forward Bloc candidates in the 1972 state legislative assembly election, contesting in the Sonichera constituency. He then got 292 votes (3.72%). [http://www.eci.gov.in/StatisticalReports/SE_1972/StatReport_TP_72.pdf 1972] , ECI.]

Mass Organizations

*All India Youth League
*All India Students Bloc
*Trade Union Coordination Committee
*All India Agragami Kisan Sabha (peasants' organization)
*All India Agragami Mahila Samiti (women's organization)

It has also formed an "India - China Friendship Association".

Lok Sabha Election Results

tate Election Results

Notes

External links

* [http://www.forwardbloc.org/home.htm Party Website]
* [http://www.eci.gov.in/mis-Political_Parties/Constitution_of_Political_Parties/Constitution_of_All%20India%20Forward%20Bloc.pdf Constitution of the Party] , retrieved at Election Commission of India website