Satyapriya Banerjee (born 25 August 1893, d. 1957) was an Indian politician and

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

ist.

Early years

Banerjee went to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

for studies, and obtained

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

and

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Ch ...

degrees. In 1920 he founded the Samaj Sevak Sangh. In 1928 he became the founding secretary of the All Bengal Youth Association.

Struggle for Independence

Banerjee served as secretary of the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee. Working closely with Subhas Chandra Bose, he left the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

along with Bose and founded the All India Forward Bloc (in which Banerjee became secretary). Banerjee was a member of the

Bengal Legislative Assembly The Bengal Legislative Assembly () was the largest legislature in British India, serving as the lower chamber of the legislature of Bengal (now Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal). It was established under the Government of India A ...

between 1937 and 1945, and a member of the

Central Legislative Assembly The Central Legislative Assembly was the lower house of the Imperial Legislative Council, the legislature of British India. It was created by the Government of India Act 1919, implementing the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms. It was also sometim ...

1946-1947.Sud, S. P. Singh, and Ajit Singh Sud.
Indian Elections and Legislators
'. Ludhiana: All India Publications, 1953. pp. 168-169 During the

Partition Partition may refer to: Computing Hardware * Disk partitioning, the division of a hard disk drive * Memory partition, a subdivision of a computer's memory, usually for use by a single job Software * Partition (database), the division of a ...

Banerjee was active in the United Central Refugee Council.

Trade unionist

Banerjee served as president of the Bengal Provincial Trade Union Congress and vice-president of the

All India Trade Union Congress The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) is the oldest trade union federation in India. It is associated with the Communist Party of India. According to provisional statistics from the Ministry of Labour, AITUC had a membership of 14.2 mill ...

Bowbazar election

Banerjee stood as a candidate in Bowbazar in the

1952 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election The West Bengal State Assembly Election of 1952 was a part of the series of Legislative Assembly elections in 1952. Alliances On the political left, two alliances had emerged the United Socialist Organisation of India (an alliance between th ...

. His candidature was supported by different left parties. Banerjee was defeated by the Congress candidate

Bidhan Chandra Roy Bidhan Chandra Roy (1 July 1882 – 1 July 1962) was an Indian physician, educationist, and statesman who served as Chief Minister of West Bengal from 1948 until his death in 1962. Roy played a key role in the founding of several institutio ...

.Chakrabarty, Saroj, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Bidhan Chandra Roy.
With Dr. B.C. Roy and Other Chief Ministers: A Record Upto 1962
'. Calcutta: Benson's, 1974. p. 196 Roy obtained 13,910 votes, whilst Banerjee got 9,799 votes (41.33%). The day following the elections, riots broke out.

Split in the Forward Bloc

He was elected to the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

in the same year, and remained in that post until 1956. Inside the party, Banerjee was a prominent member of the left-wing tendency. The party was torn on the issue of cooperation with the Communist Party of India. The conflict escalated during the by-election in Calcutta South East Lok Sabha constituency (called after the death of incumbent

Syama Prasad Mookerjee Syama Prasad Mukherjee (6 July 1901 – 23 June 1953) was an Indian politician, barrister and academician, who served as India's first Minister for Industry and Supply (currently known as Ministry of Commerce and Industry) in Jawaharlal Nehru' ...

). Banerjee's group supported the Communist Party Sadhan Gupta candidate rather than the official Forward Bloc candidate. Banerjee was expelled from the party, along with Amar Bose and Suhurit Chaudhury, by the Working Committee of the All India Forward Bloc.Shashi, Shyam Singh.
Encyclopaedia Indica: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh
'. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1996. p. 132 At the time Banerjee was the sole national parliamentarian of the party.Weiner, Myron.
Party politics in India
'. 1972. p. 127 Banerjee and the other expellees founded the

Marxist Forward Bloc The Marxist Forward Bloc is a political party in India, a splinter group of the All India Forward Bloc. The MFB was formed in 1953 as Satyapriya Banerjee, a member of the AIFB Central Secretariat, Amar Bose, Suhurit Chaudhury and Ram Chatterji wer ...

in April 1954.Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Election Results of West Bengal: Statistics & Analysis, 1952-1991
', Vol. 1. Calcutta: The Committee, 1995. p. 650

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Banerjee, Satyapriya 1893 births 1957 deaths Indian National Congress politicians All India Forward Bloc politicians Marxist Forward Bloc politicians Trade unionists from West Bengal Rajya Sabha members from West Bengal Bengal MLAs 1937–1945 Expatriates of British India in Germany