Gaur Chakraborty alias Gour Narayan Chakraborty is the former spokesperson of West Bengal State committee of the

Communist Party of India (Maoist) The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is a banned Marxist–Leninist-Maoist communist political party and militant organization in India which aims to overthrow the Republic of India through protracted people's war. It was founded on 21 S ...

. He is one of the senior most person in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

who was arrested and detained under

Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act is an Indian law aimed at the prevention of unlawful activities associations in India. Its main objective was to make powers available for dealing with activities directed against the integrity and sover ...

. After seven years of incarceration he was acquitted of all charges under the UAPA.

Political life

Chakraborty worked in the Eastern Railway hawkers union led by Left politics. He was associated with the

Communist Party of India The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...

before 1967 and later joined the

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...

. In the early 70s in West Bengal, he maintained his contacts with Naxal leaders but did not leave the CPI(M). Next three decades, he was attached with Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) and various fractions of the

Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) (CPI(ML)) was an Indian communist party formed by the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR) at a congress in Calcutta in 1969. The foundation of the party wa ...

as well as civil society movement in

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. He became active in

Singur Singur is a census town in Singur CD block in Chandannagore subdivision of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Geography Location Singur is located at . It has an average elevation of 14 metres (45 ft), and i ...

and

Nandigram Nandigram is a census town in the Nandigram I Community development block, Community Development Block of the Haldia subdivision in the Purba Medinipur district of the India, Indian state of West Bengal. In 2007, the West Bengal government all ...

movements at the time of

Left Front (West Bengal) The Left Front (Bengali language, Bengali: ) is an alliance of Left-wing politics, left-wing political parties in the Indian state of West Bengal. It was formed in January 1977, the founding parties being the Communist Party of India (Marxist), ...

Government and played a crucial role in uniting urban support bases in favour of the tribal upsurge in Jangalmahal, the three

Left wing extremism Far-left politics, also known as extreme left politics or left-wing extremism, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single, coherent definition; some ...

affected districts of

Bankura Bankura () is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Bankura district. Etymology It comes from the old Austric word ráŕhá or ráŕho which means “land of red soil”.P.R. Sarkar Rarh - ...

Purulia Purulia, officially Purulia Sadar, is a city and a municipality in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Purulia district. It is located on the north of the Kangsabati River. Geography Location Purulia is locate ...

and

Paschim Medinipur Paschim Medinipur (English: ''West Medinipur'', alternative spelling ''Midnapore'') district is one of the districts of the state of West Bengal, India. It was formed on 1 January 2002 after the partition of Midnapore into Paschim Medinipur a ...

. In the time of Lalgarh movement, the CPI (Maoist) declared his name as outfit official spokesperson.

Arrest

On 23 June 2009 just immediately after the then Chief Minister

Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (1 March 1944 – 8 August 2024) was an Indian Communism, communist politician and a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), who served as the 7th List of Chief Ministers of West Bengal, Chief M ...

's announcement to implement the ban on the CPI (Maoist) in the state of

Kolkata Police The Kolkata Police () (formerly "Calcutta Police"), is the Law enforcement in India, territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and crime prevention within the Kolkata metropolitan region, metropolitan area of the city of Kolkata, ...

arrested Chakraborty as he emerged from the office of a private TV channel in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

after giving them an interview. He was charged with several offences including under section 20 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act or UAPA. In October 2012 Chakraborty was admitted to Bangur Institute of Neurosciences after a cardiac arrest in Presidency jail.

Acquittal

The City Sessions judge of the Bankshall Court, Kolkata acquitted Mr. Chakraborty of all the charges on 19 July 2016. The prosecution could not substantiate the charges brought against him and he was set free from jail after 7 years imprisonment when he was 78.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chakraborty, Gaur Anti-revisionists Communist Party of India (Maoist) politicians Indian Marxists Naxalites Living people Year of birth missing (living people)