Sudha Roy
{{Short description|Indian politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2021}}
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.{{cite book|author=Maṇikuntalā Sena|title=In search of freedom: an unfinished journey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9DpuAAAAMAAJ|date=1 April 2001|publisher=Stree|isbn=978-81-85604-25-1|page=57}} She was one of the most prominent female leaders of the Bengali left.{{cite book|author=Sampa Guha|title=Political Participation of Women in a Changing Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6TU-AAAAMAAJ|year=1996|publisher=Inter-India Publications|isbn=978-81-210-0344-5|page=105}}
Youth
Roy was born in 1914 into a Kayastha landlord family in Faridpur.{{cite book|author=Sunil Kumar Sen|title=The working women and popular movements in Bengal: from the Gandhi era to the present day|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OQwuAAAAMAAJ|year=1985|publisher=K.P. Bagchi|page=96|isbn=9780836416039 }} She joined labour movement in the 1930s, having been introduced to labour politics by her brother Sisir Roy during her student days.{{cite book|author=S. N. Sadasivan|title=Party and democracy in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lJ2KAAAAMAAJ|year=1977|publisher=Tata McGraw-Hill|pages=90–92|isbn=9780070965911 }}{{cite book|author=Amitabha Mukherjee|title=Women in Indian Life and Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FWHaAAAAMAAJ|date=1 January 1996|publisher=Punthi Pustak and Institute of Historical Studies|isbn=978-81-85094-97-7|page=240}} Alongside her brother, she became a key leader of the Bengal Labour Party when it was founded in 1933.{{cite book|title=Socialist Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JyQsAAAAIAAJ|volume=17|year=1989|publisher=Council for Political Studies.|page=276}}
Bolshevik Party joins CPI
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
She worked as mathematics teacher at Kamala Girls School in south Calcutta between 1932 and 1958.{{cite book|title=Labour File: A Bimonthly Journal of Labour and Economic Affairs|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cHDtAAAAMAAJ|volume=5|year=2007|publisher=Information and Feature Trust|page=116}} At the time she was a well-known labour leader.{{cite book|author1=Leela Gulati|author2=Jasodhara Bagchi|title=A Space of Her Own: Personal Narratives of Twelve Women|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JcqGAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA232|date=7 April 2005|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-81-321-0341-7|page=232}} Roy, nicknamed Bahinji ('Honoured sister') by dock workers, would pass the Kidderpore dock daily in the afternoon for union tasks.{{cite book|author=Samita Sen|title=Women and Labour in Late Colonial India: The Bengal Jute Industry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gN1dEJuiZ0cC&pg=PA230|date=6 May 1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-45363-9|pages=229–230}}
Women's movement
Roy joined the women's movement in 1943, being active in the All India Women's Conference. Roy served as vice chair of the National Federation of Indian Women between 1954 and 1982.{{cite book|title=Link: Indian Newsmagazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ArsxAQAAIAAJ|volume=16|year=1974|page=34}}{{cite book|author=National Federation of Indian Women. Congress|title=Tenth Congress, National Federation of Indian Women, Trivandrum, December 27–30, 1980|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jjMqAAAAYAAJ|year=1981|publisher=The Federation|page=102}}
Electoral politics
Sudha Roy was the sole candidate of the BPI in the 1951–1952 parliamentary election. She stood in Barrackpore constituency and obtained 25,792 votes (16.2% of vote in the constituency).Election Commission of India. [http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1951/VOL_1_51_LS.PDF STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTIONS, 1951 TO THE FIRST LOK SABHA VOLUME I (NATIONAL AND STATE ABSTRACTS & DETAILED RESULTS)]
Roy contested the Fort constituency in the 1957 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election. She finished in fourth place, with 9.75% of the votes.Election Commission of India. [http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1957/StatRep_WB_1957.pdf STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1957 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL]
In UTUC
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.{{cite book|author=Michael v. d Bogaert|title=Trade Unionism in Indian Ports: A Case Study at Calcutta and Bombay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t3cEAAAAMAAJ|year=1970|publisher=Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations|page=26}} Whilst Roy's group constituted the majority faction, the split significantly weakened the union.
Sisir Roy died in 1960, and Sudha Roy succeeded him in the post as general secretary of the United Trade Union Congress.{{cite book|author=Harold A. Crouch|title=Trade Unions and Politics in India|url=https://archive.org/details/tradeunionspolit0000crou|url-access=registration|year=1966|publisher=Manaktalas|page=[https://archive.org/details/tradeunionspolit0000crou/page/233 233]}}{{cite book|author=United Trades Union Congress|title=Report|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UzkuAQAAIAAJ|year=1964|publisher=UTUC.|page=7}}{{cite book|title=The Times of India Directory and Year Book Including Who's who|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3QIfAQAAMAAJ|year=1967|publisher=Bennett, Coleman & Company|page=528}}{{cite book|title=The Call|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7tMKAAAAIAAJ|volume=16|year=1964|publisher=S. Bhattacharya.|page=87}}
Joining CPI
At the 1965 BPI party conference Sudha Roy called for a merger between BPI and CPI. The conference rejected a merger and Sudha Roy and her followers left BPI to join CPI. After shifting to CPI, she joined the All India Trade Union Congress.{{cite book|author=Paul Francis Magnelia|title=The International Union of Students|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c4pBAAAAIAAJ|year=1967|publisher=Peninsula Lithograph Company|page=185}}
She extended firm and active support to Bangladesh liberation struggle in the 1970s.
Roy chaired the State Social Welfare Board between 1969 and 1973.{{cite book|title=National Council of Women in India Bulletin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D83lAAAAMAAJ|year=1971|publisher=National Council of Women in India.|page=45}} Roy founded the Mahila Sanskritik Saimmelan ('Women's Cultural Conference').
Sudha Roy died on June 7, 1987, after prolonged illness.{{cite book|title=Trade Union Record|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=53TtAAAAMAAJ|volume=45|year=1987|publisher=All-India Trade Union Congress|page=116}}
References
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Category:Communist Party of India politicians from West Bengal
Category:Female politicians of the Communist Party of India
Category:Indian women trade unionists
Category:Trade unionists from West Bengal
Category:Women in West Bengal politics
Category:People from Faridpur District
Category:Politicians from Dhaka Division
Category:Politicians from Kolkata