A. B. Bardhan

A. B. Bardhan Biography

Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan, popularly known as A. B. Bardhan was one of the prominent leaders of Communist Party of India. One of the eldest political leaders of the country, he has served as the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) before. Bardhan suffered a paralytic stroke in December 2015 and was admitted to the hospital. He died on 2, January 2016 at Delhi, aged 91. Bardhan is known for ideologies of a secular India and is remembered for his campaign in response to Lal Krishna Advani’s Rath Yatra.

Bardhan was born in Barisal of Bengal Presidency of British India in the year 1924. Now Barisal belongs to Bangladesh. He got influenced to the ideas of communism at a young age of 15 and moved to Nagpur. He later joined Communist Party of India, which was then banned by Indian government. He got associated with trade unions and worked among common man and workers for their rights and dignity. He was a member of All India Students Federation, a left leaning students' organization during his studies in Nagpur University in the 1940s, a time when Communists were often marked as revolutionaries or terrorists.

Bardhan has contested several state assembly elections from Nagpur and won it once as an independent candidate in 1957. He was instrumental in the integration of Maharashtra state into one unit during his term in the assembly. Later he entered national level politics and has been associated with many movements. General Secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress in 1994 and Deputy General Secretary of the Communist Party of India in 1995 are the high profile positions held by Bardhan. Later Bardhan served as the party's General Secretary during the period 1996 and 2002.

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Updated: January 04, 2016