Prakash Karat
Encyclopedia
Prakash Karat born on February 7, 1948 in Letpadan, Burma is a communist politician in India
and the current General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
since 2005.
. Prakash Karat is a Malayali
, as his family hailed from Elappully, Palakkad
, Kerala
. Prakash Karat lived in Palakkad till the age of five before returning to Burma where he lived with his family till the age of nine, when his family left Burma for good in 1957. Karat studied in the Madras Christian College School in Chennai. On finishing school, he won the first prize in an all India essay competition on the Tokyo Olympics. He was sent on a ten day visit to the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 as a result. He went to the Madras Christian College as an undergraduate student in Economics, where he won the prize for the best all round student on graduation. He got a scholarship to Britain’s University of Edinburgh, for a Masters degree in politics. In 1970 he received an MSc degree from Edinburgh University for the thesis "Language and politics in modern India". It was at Edinburgh that he became active in student politics and met Professor Victor Kiernan, the well-known Marxist historian. His political activism began with anti-apartheid protests at the University, for which he was rusticated. The rustication was suspended on good behaviour. Karat returned to India in 1970 and joined the premier institution, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He worked as an aide to A.K.Gopalan, the leader of the CPI(M) group in Parliament from 1971 to 1973 while doing his Ph.D. in JNU. Karat was one of the founders of the Students Federation of India
(SFI), the CPI(M)’s student wing, in Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was involved with student politics and was elected the third president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Student's Union. He also became the second President of the Students Federation of India between 1974 to 1979. He worked underground for one and a half years during the Emergency in India in 1975-76. He was arrested twice and spent 8 days in prison.
, then a party colleague, in 1975. Brinda worked in the Air India office in London, before she became a CPI(M) fulltime cadre. Brinda has also risen through the party ranks and is a member of the Politburo. Brinda Karat hails from the state of Bengal. The Karats have no children, by choice.
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and the current General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Communist Party of India (Marxist)
The Communist Party of India is a political party in India. It has a strong presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. As of 2011, CPI is leading the state government in Tripura. It leads the Left Front coalition of leftist parties in various states and the national parliament of...
since 2005.
Education and early career
Prakash Karat was born in Letpadan, Burma on February 7, 1948. His father worked in the Burma Railways, where he had sought employment during the British RajBritish Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
. Prakash Karat is a Malayali
Malayali
Malayali is the term used to refer to the native speakers of Malayalam, originating from the Indian state of Kerala...
, as his family hailed from Elappully, Palakkad
Palakkad
Palakkad , formerly known as Palghat, is a municipality and a town in the state of Kerala in southern India, spread over an area of 26.60 km2.The city is situated about north of state capital Thiruvananthapuram. It is the administrative headquarters of Palakkad District...
, Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
. Prakash Karat lived in Palakkad till the age of five before returning to Burma where he lived with his family till the age of nine, when his family left Burma for good in 1957. Karat studied in the Madras Christian College School in Chennai. On finishing school, he won the first prize in an all India essay competition on the Tokyo Olympics. He was sent on a ten day visit to the Tokyo Olympics in 1964 as a result. He went to the Madras Christian College as an undergraduate student in Economics, where he won the prize for the best all round student on graduation. He got a scholarship to Britain’s University of Edinburgh, for a Masters degree in politics. In 1970 he received an MSc degree from Edinburgh University for the thesis "Language and politics in modern India". It was at Edinburgh that he became active in student politics and met Professor Victor Kiernan, the well-known Marxist historian. His political activism began with anti-apartheid protests at the University, for which he was rusticated. The rustication was suspended on good behaviour. Karat returned to India in 1970 and joined the premier institution, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He worked as an aide to A.K.Gopalan, the leader of the CPI(M) group in Parliament from 1971 to 1973 while doing his Ph.D. in JNU. Karat was one of the founders of the Students Federation of India
Students Federation of India
Students Federation of India is one of the major student organisations in India. SFI is politically linked to the Communist Party of India . Founded in 1970, it claimed a membership strength of nearly 4.2 million school and university students as of 2010.SFI is currently led at the All India level...
(SFI), the CPI(M)’s student wing, in Jawaharlal Nehru University. He was involved with student politics and was elected the third president of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Student's Union. He also became the second President of the Students Federation of India between 1974 to 1979. He worked underground for one and a half years during the Emergency in India in 1975-76. He was arrested twice and spent 8 days in prison.
Personal life
Prakash Karat married Brinda KaratBrinda Karat
Brinda Karat is a communist politician from India, elected to the Rajya Sabha as a Communist Party of India CPI member, on 11 April 2005 for West Bengal.In 2005, she became the first woman member of the CPI Politburo...
, then a party colleague, in 1975. Brinda worked in the Air India office in London, before she became a CPI(M) fulltime cadre. Brinda has also risen through the party ranks and is a member of the Politburo. Brinda Karat hails from the state of Bengal. The Karats have no children, by choice.
Communist Party
After returning to India in 1970, Karat joined the Jawaharlal Nehru University and thereafter Communist Party of India (Marxist). He began working as an aide to the party leader A K Gopalan, the legendary communist leader from Kerala. He was the Secretary of the Delhi State Committee of the CPI(M) from 1982 to 1985. Prakash Karat was elected to the Central Committee of the CPI (M) in 1985 and became a member of the ‘Politburo’ in 1992. He took over as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 2005 at the 18th Congress of the Party held in Delhi.Party Leader
Karat was elected to the Central Committee of the CPI (M) in 1985 and became a member of the Politburo in 1992. The Politburo is the key decision making wing of the party. In 2005, he was elected General Secretary, effectively the most influential position in the party structure.Academic and political writings
Since 1992, Karat has been on the editorial board of CPI(M)'s academic journal, The Marxist. He is also the managing director of Leftword. He is the author of five books.- Language, Nationality and Politics in India (1972)
- A World to Win -- Essays on the Communist Manifesto (1999), edited
- Across Time and Continents: A tribute to Victor Kiernan (2003), edited
- Subordinate Ally: The nuclear deal and India-US strategic relations (2008)
- politics and policies(2008)