Bakin Pertin (1 May 1942, in Damro village – 5 January 1996, in

Guwahati Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

India News and Feature Alliance.
India Who's Who
'. New Delhi: INFA Publications, 1997. p. 49) was an Indian politician. Pertin belonged to the group of

Adi people The Adi people are one of the most populous groups of indigenous peoples in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. A few thousand are also found in the Tibet Autonomous Region, where they are called the Lhoba together with some of the Nyishi peopl ...

.
The Election Archives
', Vol. 65–70. Shiv Lal, 1982. p. 139 He was one of the first elected

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

members of

Arunachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in northeast India. It was formed from the North-East Frontier Agency (NEFA) region, and India declared it as a state on 20 February 1987. Itanagar is its capital and la ...

, and later became a Member of the Legislative Assembly of that state.

Youth and early career

Pertin studied at St. Edmund's College in

Shillong Shillong (, ) is a hill station and the capital of Meghalaya, a Indian state, state in northeastern India. It is the headquarters of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong is the list of most populous cities in India, 330th most populous city ...

and Delhi College in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. Pertin began his political activism during his student years. In 1959 the All NEFA Students Union (later renamed as the All Arunachal Pradesh Students' Union) was founded, with Pertin as its general secretary. He worked at the news division of

All India Radio All India Radio (AIR), also known as Akashvani (), is India's state-owned public broadcasting, public radio broadcaster. Founded in 1936, it operates under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India), Ministry of Information and Broa ...

between 1964 and 1969. He was a member of Damro I Gram Panchayat, Maryiang Anchal Samiti and Siang Zilla Parishad. In 1974 he became the general secretary of the Bogum Bokang Kebang (the highest tribal authority of the Adi people). In 1975 he became the vice-president of the Siang Zilla Parishad.
Lok Sabha Debates
'. Lok Sabha Secretariat., 1996. pp. xvii–xviii

1977 election

The 1977 general election was the first time the newly created Union Territory of

was able to elect two members of the

(lower house of the Indian parliament). Pertin contested the election as an

independent candidate An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have polit ...

for the Arunachal East constituency. He won the seat, obtaining 28,557 votes (56.34% of the votes in the constituency).Election Commission of India.
Statistical Report on General Elections, 1977 to the Sixth Lok Sabha
'' The election in

was fought on religious lines, as the two independent candidates (Pertin and another, that eventually withdrew from contest) were Christians and the two

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

candidate practised indigenous

Donyi-Polo Donyi Polo is the designation given to the indigenous religion, of animistic and shamanic type, of the Tani and other Indo-Tibetan and Sino-Tibetan peoples of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam in Northeast India. The name "Donyi-Polo" means "Sun- ...

religion.

MP

After being elected to the Lok Sabha, Pertin resigned from his post as Zilla Parishad vice-president.Talukdar, Atul Chandra.
Political Transition in the Grassroots in Tribal India
'. New Delhi: Omsons Publications, 1987. p. 89 In his election manifesto, Pertin had vowed to form a regional political party, if elected. Following the election Pertin organised a meeting in Pasighat in April 1977, to found the

People's Party of Arunachal Peoples Party of Arunachal is a regional political party in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. It was founded in September 1977 by Bakin Pertin, Oken Lego and L. Wanglat as president, Vice President and General Secretary of the party. To ...

.Begi, Joram.
Education in Arunachal Pradesh Since 1947: Constraints, Opportunities, Initiatives and Needs
'. New Delhi: Mittal Publ, 2007. p. 17 Pertin became the president of the new party. Whilst being the leader of PPA, Pertin was continued to be linked to the

Janata Party The Janata Party (JP, ) is an unrecognised political party in India. Navneet Chaturvedi is the current president of the party since November 2021, replacing Jaiprakash Bandhu. The JP was established as an amalgam of Indian political partie ...

(then in government) in Delhi. Pertin had the status of being an 'associated' member of the Janata Party. He later broke his links with the Janata Party. Pertin strongly opposed the Freedom of Indigenous Faith Bill (which outlaws conversion from 'one indigenous faith to any other faith or religion by use of force or by inducement or by fraudulent means').

1980 election

He lost the Arunachal East Lok Sabha seat in the 1980 general election. He obtained 43% of the votes. In the election campaign Pertin's opponents had accused PPA of being a Christian party and opposed to indigenous religion.

MLA

He tried to win back the Arunachal East Lok Sabha seat in the 1984 election. He finished in second place with 22,697 votes (23.76%). Pertin also contested the 1984 Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, as the PPA candidate in the Meriyang-Mebo constituency. He won the seat with 4,167 votes (51.42%).

In Janata Dal

When the

Janata Dal Janata Dal () was an List of political parties in India, Indian political party which was formed through the merger of Lok Dal, Indian National Congress (Jagjivan), and the Jan Morcha on 11 October 1988—the birth anniversary of Jayaprakash Na ...

was formed, Pertin became the secretary of the Arunachal Pradesh unit of the party. He contested two seats in the

Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly is the unicameral state legislature of Arunachal Pradesh state in north-eastern India. The seat of the Legislative Assembly is at Itanagar, the capital of the state. The Legislative Assembly comprise ...

election, 1990, 1990 Legislative Assembly election; Mariyang-Geku (ST) and Pasighat East (ST). He lost in both constituencies. Pertin obtained 2,746 votes (34.48%) in Pasighat East (ST), losing by a margin of merely 84 votes).Election Commission of India.
Statistical Report on General Election, 1990 to the Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh
'' In Mariyang-Geku he finished second with 3,047 votes (44.91%). In the 1995 Legislative Assembly election he contested the Mebo (ST) seat, again as a Janata Dal candidate. He finished in second place with 1,872 votes (32.47%).Election Commission of India.
Statistical Report on General Election, 1995 to the Legislative Assembly of Arunachal Pradesh
'' Pertin died in 1996, at the age of 53. He was noted for his contributions to adult education.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pertin, Bakin 1996 deaths 1942 births Arunachal Pradesh MLAs 1984–1990 India MPs 1977–1979 Lok Sabha members from Arunachal Pradesh People from Pasighat Indian Christians Arunachal Pradesh district councillors People from East Siang district People's Party of Arunachal politicians Janata Dal politicians Zakir Husain Delhi College alumni