Dinkar Krishnalal Mehta (17 October 1907 – 30 August 2030) was an Indian politician and trade unionist. Mehta headed the communist movement in Gujarat for decades – leading the Gujarat state unit of the Communist Party of India between 1936 and 1964, and then the Communist Party of India (Marxist) between 1964 and 1989. He served as a legislator of Bombay State and Mayor of Ahmedabad. Mehta was a prominent leader of the Mahagujarat movement, which struggled for the creation of a Gujarati linguistic state.

Early life

Mehta was born on 17 October 1907.[1][2] As a young man, Mehta become involved with the Sabarmati Ashram of Mahatma Gandhi.[3] Mehta took part in the 1928 Bardoli Satyagraha and led the 1930 Dharasana Satyagraha.[1][2] He was jailed for his role in the civil disobedience movements.[1][3] He graduated in social sciences from Gujarat Vidyapith in 1929, and would later teach there until 1933.[1] In 1934, he took part in founding the Gujarat unit of the Congress Socialist Party (CSP).[2]

In the Communist Party

In 1935, he became a member of the Communist Party of India.[2] As of 1936, the CPI placed him in charge of leading the party in Gujarat.[4] He served as joint secretary of the Congress Socialist Party between 1936 and 1938.[2] He was suspended from the CSP membership in 1938 for disobeying its general secretary's instructions.[5] He organised trade unions and other mass organizations.[3] He spent the years of 1940–1942 underground.[2]

Mehta was arrested in 1948, but managed to escape from jail the following year.[2] He would remain underground until 1951.[2] Mehta stood as the CPI candidate in the Ahmedabad III constituency in the 1952 Bombay Legislative Assembly election, standing against Congress candidate Indumati Chimanlal.[6] Mehta finished in second place with 4,793 votes (17.76%).[6] A by-election for one of the Ahmedabad City seats in the Bombay Legislative Assembly was held on 4 June 1952. The Indian National Congress fielded the Chief Minister Morarji Desai, CPI fielded Mehta. Desai won the seat with 18,583 votes (61.08%) against 11,841 (38.92%) votes for Mehta.[7][8][9]

He was elected to the Central Committee of CPI at its 1953 Madurai Party Congress.[10]

Mahagujarat movement

Mehta was the Vice President of Maha Gujarat Janta Parishad between 1957 and 1960.[2] He contested the unreserved seat of Gomtipur constituency in the 1957 Bombay Legislative Assembly election as an independent candidate, obtaining 37,862 votes (897 less votes than the winning candidate).[11] He was a Member of the Legislative Council of the Bombay State between 1958 and 1960.[2] He stood as the Nutan Maha Gujarat Janta Parishad candidate in the Dariapur Kazipur constituency in the 1962 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election, finishing in second place with 17,237 votes (48.69%).[12]

CPI(M) leader

When the CPI was split in 1964, Mehta would join the Communist Party of India (Marxist).[2] Before the split, Mehta was the CPI Gujarat State Council Secretary and a member of the National Council of the party.[13][14] He had not joined walk-out protest at the CPI National Council meeting on 11 April 1964, which marked the emergence of the Left CPI (later CPI(M)) as a separate party, but was identified as a leftist within CPI.[13][14] Mehta attended the Tenali convention of the Left CPI in July 1964, and afterwards organised a special convention at Ahmedabad to present a report from Tenali.[15] On 5 August 1964, the Maha Gujarat Janata Parishad organized a state-wide hartal (general strike).[13][16] Mehta took part in mobilising mill workers to join the strike.[17] After the hartal, Mehta and other party leaders were arrested.[13]

Mehta was elected to the Central Committee of CPI(M) at the 7th Party Congress, held at Calcutta in October–November 1964.[4] He became the Gujarat State Committee Secretary of CPI(M), a post he would hold until his death.[3] Mehta authored many works on Marxist theory in Gujarati language.[3]

Mehta was elected the Mayor of Ahmedabad in 1966, and served in the role until 1967.[2][3] He contested the Dariapur Kazipur seat again in the 1967 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election, as an independent, finishing in second place with 19,574 votes (43.68%).[18]

Dinkar Mehta died on 30 August 1989.[2][3] He had suffered from ill health during the last years in his life.[3]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 India Who's who. INFA Publications. 1986. p. 45.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Jayaprakash Narayan (2000). Jayaprakash Narayan: 1929-1935. Manohar. p. 122. ISBN 978-81-7304-354-3.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Jyoti Basu (1998). Documents of the Communist Movement in India: 1989-1991. National Book Agency. pp. 94–95. ISBN 978-81-7626-037-4.
  4. 1 2 Jyoti Basu (1999). Memoirs, a Political Autobiography. National Book Agency. pp. 184, 188–189. ISBN 978-81-7626-054-1.
  5. ↑ Shashi Joshi (1992). Struggle for Hegemony in India, 1920-47: The Colonial State, the Left, and the National Movement. Sage Publications. p. 141. ISBN 978-81-7036-295-1.
  6. 1 2 Election Commission of India. Bombay 1951
  7. ↑ G.A. Natesan (1952). The Indian Review. G.A. Natesan & Company. p. 320.
  8. ↑ Devavrat N. Pathak; Mathuradas Govindji Parekh; Kirtidev Dahyabhai Desai (1966). Three General Elections in Gujarat: Development of a Decade, 1952-1962. Gujarat University. p. 40.
  9. ↑ Election Commission of India. Bye-election results 1952-95
  10. ↑ Windmiller, Marshall (1954). "Indian Communism Today". Far Eastern Survey. 23 (4): 49–56. doi:10.2307/3023926. JSTOR 3023926.
  11. ↑ Election Commission of India. Bombay, 1967
  12. ↑ Election Commission of India. Gujarat 1962
  13. 1 2 3 4 Documents of the Communist Movement in India. National Book Agency. 1997. p. 143. ISBN 978-81-7626-011-4.
  14. 1 2 Thought. Siddharta Publications. 1964. p. clxxxvii.
  15. ↑ Thought. Siddharta Publications. 1964. p. 246.
  16. ↑ Poverty and Vulnerability in a Globalising Metropolis, Ahmedabad. Manak Publications. 2002. p. 221. ISBN 978-81-7827-031-9.
  17. ↑ Paresh Majmundar (1973). An Anatomy of Peaceful Industrial Relations. N. M. Tripathi. pp. 203–204.
  18. ↑ Election Commission of India. Gujarat 1967
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