Deo Prakash Rai (December 1926 – 1981) was an Indian politician. A former Gorkha Brigade soldier, he was the general secretary of the

All India Gorkha League Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League ( ABGL) (also called All India Gorkha League (AIGL/IGL)) is a political party working amongst the Nepali-speaking Gorkha population in Darjeeling District and Kalimpong District of West Bengal, India. The party was ...

and was made a minister in the

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the four ...

state government in 1967, 1969 and 1971.

Youth

Rai was born at Tukvar Tea Estate in

Darjeeling Darjeeling (, , ) is a town and municipality in the northernmost region of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located in the Eastern Himalayas, it has an average elevation of . To the west of Darjeeling lies the easternmost province of Ne ...

in December 1926. He was the son of K.S. Sotang. He went to school at the Arung School of Education, obtaining a Higher English Certificate of Education.

Soldier

Rai served in the Gorkha Brigade for three years during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. He reached the rank of colour sergeant. In 1950, he was arrested in

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

and deported, having been denounced as a "communist agent" by John Cross, chief instructor of the new Army School of Education (Gurkhas).

In politics and trade unionism

Rai was general secretary of the All India Gorkha League. In 1946, the Communist Party of India (CPI) proposed the notion of creating a "Gorkhasthan", merging

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is ma ...

, south

Sikkim Sikkim (; ) is a state in Northeastern India. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in the north and northeast, Bhutan in the east, Province No. 1 of Nepal in the west and West Bengal in the south. Sikkim is also close to the Siligu ...

and the Darjeeling hills. The CPI tried to convince the Gorkha League to support the Gorkhasthan proposal, but Rai categorically opposed it. As a

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 (s ...

ist, he was the founder of Darjeeling Chiya Kaman Shramik Sangha. He was patron of the Darjeeling Cultural Institute. As an author, he wrote many poems and short stories in the

Nepali language Nepali (; , ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Himalayas region of South Asia. It is the official, and most widely spoken, language of Nepal, where it also serves as a '' lingua franca''. Nepali has official status in the Indian st ...

Legislator

Rai represented the Darjeeling constituency in the

West Bengal Legislative Assembly The West Bengal Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian states and territories of India, state of West Bengal. It is located in the B. B. D. Bagh area of Kolkata, the capital of the state. Members of the Legislative as ...

from 1957 until his death.

Minister

Rai was named Minister for Scheduled Castes and Tribes Welfare in the 1967 and 1969

United Front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political a ...

governments of West Bengal. He was again named as Minister in the 1971 state government, now in charge of Scheduled Castes Tribal Welfare and Tourism. For a quarter of a century, Rai was the dominant politician in the Darjeeling hills. He received criticism from within his own community, which accused him of having entered into a secret pact with the state government in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...

. While Raj was a minister in three successive state cabinets, no progress on administrative autonomy for the Darjeeling hills was made.

1977 election

At the time of the 1977 elections, Rai was weakened by illness. Rai died in 1981. After his death, his party was weakened and more militant factions such as Pranta Parishad and the

Gorkha National Liberation Front Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF) is a political party in the Darjeeling District of West Bengal, India. It was formed in 1980 by Subhash Ghisingh with the objective of demanding a Gorkhaland state within India. Early history Part of th ...

came to dominate the political field in the hills.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rai, Deoprakash 1926 births 1981 deaths Gurkhas Akhil Bharatiya Gorkha League politicians West Bengal MLAs 1957–1962 West Bengal MLAs 1962–1967 West Bengal MLAs 1967–1969 West Bengal MLAs 1969–1971 West Bengal MLAs 1971–1972 West Bengal MLAs 1972–1977 West Bengal MLAs 1977–1982 State cabinet ministers of West Bengal Trade unionists from West Bengal People from Darjeeling Indian Gorkhas British Indian Army soldiers Rai people