Jatindra Chandra Chakraborty (1911 – 1996) was an Indian politician and trade unionist. Chakraborty played a prominent role in West Bengal politics and was often entangled in controversies. He was a founding leader of the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the United Trade Union Congress. Chakraborty was a member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from 1957 to 1962, 1969 to 1970 and 1977 to 1991. He served in ministerial posts in the state governments of the United Front (1969) and the Left Front (1977–1988). After falling out with the Left Front in 1988, Chakraborty became a vocal critic of the state government.
Youth Jatindra Chandra Chakraborty was born on 10 September 1911 in Comilla. He was the son of Surendra Chandra Chakraborty. He attended the Hare School in Calcutta and would later study at the Scottish Church College, Ripon College and Vidyasagar College. During his student years, he became politically active, being associated with the revolutionary Anushilan Samiti.Who's who in 1982 Assembly Election, West Bengal: Personalities and Party Manifesto. Merchants' Club, 1982. p. iii As a college student, he was a leader of the All-Bengal Students' Association, an organisation banned by the British colonial authorities, and a member of the Students' Radical Party. He was imprisoned by the British authorities in 1932, after being arrested during the non-cooperation movement.Robi Chakravorti. Studies in Voting Behaviour-VI The Decline of the Left in Calcutta Muchipara Constituency. The Economic Weekly. Vol. 14, Issue No. 34, 25 Aug 1962. pp. 1381-1386 Chakraborty obtained Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws degrees from Calcutta University. Chakraborty was a founding member of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) in 1940. He was again imprisoned by the British authorities in 1942 during the Quit India movement.
Labour leader Chakraborty was a leader of the All India Trade Union Congress and served as secretary of the Bengal Provincial Trade Union Congress.Information Bulletin, Issues 51-74. World Federation of Trade Unions, 1948. p. 11 In 1949, Chakraborty, K.T. Shahand, and Mrinal Kanti Bose founded the United Trade Union Congress (UTUC).The Times of India Directory and Year Book Including Who's who . 1982. p. 304
RSP fielded Chakraborty as its candidate in the Belgachia seat in the 1952 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election. Chakraborty finished in seventh place with 571 votes (2.64%)Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1951 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL
Chakraborty was part of a small group of RSP Central Committee members who dominated the party leadership after the departure of the ageing Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee from the helm of the organisation.Myron Weiner. Party Politics in India . Princeton University Press, 2015. p. 122 Chakraborty was the foremost trade union leader and organiser of the RSP in West Bengal. Between 1947 and 1962, Chakraborty was arrested 13 times in connection with different agitations, such as the January 1956 struggle against the Bihar-Bengal merger and the July 1960 central government employees' strike.Ranabir Samaddar. From Popular Movements to Rebellion: The Naxalite Decade . Routledge, 2018S. A. Dange. ALL GLORY TO THE VALIANT STRIKERS - A Review of the Strike of Central Government Employees, July 1960 . AITUC. p. 32 In 1952, Chakraborty was part of a UTUC delegation visiting China for May Day. In 1953, he took part in a study visit to trade unions in the United Kingdom under the Colombo Plan, and in 1954, he was a delegate to the World Federation of Trade Unions congress held in the Soviet Union.Daily News Release. Hsinhua News Agency, 1952. p. 19
Legislator Chakraborty contested the Muchipara seat in the 1957 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election. Muchipara was a constituency located in three central Calcutta wards (wards number 30, 43 and 45). This time, RSP was part of a Communist Party of India-led left coalition. Chakraborty won the seat, obtaining 15,251 votes (50.27%).Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1957 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL He won by a margin of 511 votes. His support was concentrated in wards 30 and 43, the latter characterized by housing a large red light district. During his tenure as a legislator, he actively sought to maintain links with his constituents, often visiting homes and attending social gatherings in the area. He kept offices in each ward and regularly attended these offices at fixed evening hours. Chakraborty had a high profile as a legislator; his actions in the legislature were often reported in Calcutta newspapers. Per a prominent Congress politician he was second among opposition politicians only to the communist Leader of the Opposition Jyoti Basu.
After the death of UTUC general secretary M.K. Bose in 1957, the Bolshevik Party of India leader Sisir Roy became the new UTUC general secretary. However, according to Harold Crouch (1966), the real power within UTUC lay with Chakraborty.Harold A. Crouch. Trade Unions and Politics in India. Manaktalas, 1966. p. 232 Chakraborty was one of the secretaries of UTUC.United States. Bureau of International Labor Affairs. Directory of Labor Organizations, Asia and Australasia, Vol. 1. U.S. Government Printing Office, 1963. p. 16-59, 16-64 Chakraborty became a member of the Governing Body of the National Productivity Council when it was founded in 1957.The Times of India Directory and Year Book Including Who's who . Bennett, Coleman & Company, 1961. p. 1102 In 1961, Chakraborty visited Czechoslovakia as a member of a National Productivity Council delegation.
Chakraborty lost the Muchipara seat in the 1962 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, finishing in second place with 18,141 votes (49.26%).Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1962 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL He lost the seat to Congress candidate Pratap Chandra Chunder, who won by a margin of 545 votes. Chakraborty remained the most voted candidate in wards 30 and 43, but the increase in Congress vote in ward 45 shifted the balance in Chunder's favour.
United Front Chakraborty was a member of the West Bengal Legislative Council during the 1960s.Maitra, Swati. ASSEMBLING ON ROAD : AN UNFORGETTABLE TALE OF 4 DAYS AND 3 NIGHTS (19TH TO 22ND APRIL, 1966). Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, vol. 76, 2015, pp. 851–57.The Indian Railway Gazette, Vol. 63-64. 1965. p. 225 Chakraborty and other UTUC leaders played an important role in shaping left unity for the 1967 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.Michael v. d Bogaert. Dock Worker Unions in Calcutta and Bombay: A Case Study of Trade Union Growth in a Developing Economy . Industrial Relations Research Institute, University of Wisconsin, 1967. p. 354 In the 1969 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, Chakraborty won the Sealdah seat. He obtained 27,797 votes (55.32%).Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1969 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL Chakraborty became one of two RSP ministers in the United Front state government formed after the 1969 election.Bidyut Chakrabarty. Left Radicalism in India . Routledge, 2014. p. 64 He held the post of Minister for Parliamentary Affairs and served as the Chief Whip in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly since February 1969.The Times of India Directory and Year Book Including Who's who. 1969. p. 874 He attended the seventh congress of the World Federation of Trade Unions, held in Budapest in 1969. He also visited East Germany, where he was received by the Free German Trade Union Federation.Georg Lilie. Trade Union Relations and Delegations between the German Democratic Republic (FDGB) and India (AITUC, INTUC, HMS) from 1964 to 1982 . 2022
1971 and 1972 elections In the 1971 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, Chakraborty contested the Balurghat seat instead. He finished in second place with 22,941 votes (42.11%).Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1971 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL In the 1972 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, RSP fielded him in the Dhakuria seat, finishing in second place with 20,550 votes (38.63%).Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1972 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL During the election campaign, he survived an assassination attempt, as a bomb exploded on 27 February 1972.Jyoti Basu. Documents of the Communist Movement in India: 1971-1972 . National Book Agency, 1997. p. 437
Left Front minister Chakraborty won the Dhakuria seat in the 1977 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, obtaining 32,029 votes (48.92%).Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1977 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL He was appointed Minister-in-Charge of the Public Works Department (excluding the Metropolitan Development Branch) and the Department of Housing in the first Left Front state government.Anjali Ghosh. Peaceful Transition to Power: A Study of Marxist Political Strategies in West Bengal, 1967-1977. Firma KLM, 1981. pp. 92, 169The Times of India Directory and Year Book Including Who's who. 1978. p. 873 In the midst of the post-electoral frenzy, the incoming minister, Chakraborty, had the dome of the Shaheed Minar monument painted red. The move proved unpopular in the city, and Chakraborty was forced undo the colour change of the monument.Indian History Collective. Power is an Unforgiving Mistress: Lessons from the Decline of the Left in Bengal Kheya Bag. Red Bengal’s Rise and Fall . New Left Review
He retained the Dhakuria seat in the 1982 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, obtaining 51,151 votes (60.60%).Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1982 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL He retained his ministerial portfolios in the second Left Front government.The Education Quarterly, Vol. 35-36 . Ministry of Education & Social Welfare., 1983. p. 61
In mid-1983, Chakraborty was embroiled in a dispute with pop singer Usha Uthup. The controversy lasted for about two months. Chakraborty decried Uthup's performances as "apasanskriti" (decadent). Chakraborty publicly argued that he wanted to protect Bengali society from "cheap, disco, perverted culture". Chakraborty declared that Uthup would be stopped from performing in state-run auditoriums. Chakraborty and RSP workers disrupted Uthup's shows. Uthup sued Chakraborty for defamation because of his comments against her. A Calcutta High Court judge ruled in favour of Uthup.
He again won the Dhakuria seat in the 1987 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, with 53,361 votes (53.10%).Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1987 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL Chakraborty retained his role as Minister of the Public Works Department in the third Left Front state government formed after the 1987 election.Near East/South Asia Report, Issue 87057 . Foreign Broadcast Information Service, 1987. p. 79
Bengal Lamps controversy