Maulana Muhammad Momtaz was an

Islamic scholar In Islam, the ''ulama'' ( ; also spelled ''ulema''; ; singular ; feminine singular , plural ) are scholars of Islamic doctrine and law. They are considered the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious knowledge in Islam. "Ulama ...

and politician belonging to the

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 ...

. He was a member of the first

West Bengal Legislative Assembly The West Bengal Legislative Assembly (ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paścimabaṅga Vidhānasabhā'') is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of West Bengal, located in eastern India. It consists of 294 members directly elected from single-seat ...

Early life

Momtaz was born into a

Bengali Muslim Bengali Muslims (; ) 'Mussalman'' also used in this work./ref> are adherents of Islam who ethnically, linguistically and genealogically identify as Bengalis. Comprising over 70% of the global Bengali population, they are the second-largest ...

family in

Kharagpur Kharagpur () is a semi- planned urban agglomeration and a major industrial city in the Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of the Kharagpur subdivision and the largest city of the district. It is located 1 ...

Midnapore district Midnapore (Pron: mad̪aːniːpur), or sometimes Medinipur, is a former district in the Indian state of West Bengal, headquartered in Midnapore. On 1 January 2002, the district was bifurcated into two separate districts namely Purba Medinipur ...

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal until 1937, later the Bengal Province, was the largest of all three presidencies of British India during Company rule in India, Company rule and later a Provinces o ...

Career

Momtaz contested in the

1952 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election The West Bengal State Assembly Election of 1952 was a part of the series of 1951–52 elections in India#Legislative Assembly elections, Legislative Assembly elections in 1952. It was the first ever assembly election held in West Bengal. Alli ...

where he ran as an

candidate for Kharagpur Assembly constituency, defeating

Hindutva Hindutva (; ) is a Far-right politics, far-right political ideology encompassing the cultural justification of Hindu nationalism and the belief in establishing Hindu hegemony within India. The political ideology was formulated by Vinayak Da ...

-oriented

Bharatiya Jana Sangh The Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh) was a Hindutva political party active in India. It was established on 21 October 1951 in Delhi by three founding members: Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, Balraj Madhok and Deendayal ...

politician B. C. Ghose. He lost to Marxist candidate Narayan Chobey in the

1957 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election The West Bengal state assembly election of 1957 was part of a series of state assembly elections in 1957. State Reorganization On 1 November 1956, under States Reorganisation Act, 1956, a portion of the Purnea district east of the river Mahan ...

References

West Bengal MLAs 1951–1957 People from Kharagpur 20th-century Indian Muslims 20th-century Bengalis Bengali Muslim scholars of Islam Indian Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Indian National Congress politician stubs Indian National Congress politicians from West Bengal {{WestBengal-politician-stub