Prakash Karat

Prakash Karat Biography

Prakash Karat is an Indian politician with communist views and is the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He was in this position since 2005 to 2015.  Karat was succeeded by Sitaram Yechury, in 2015. He was born on Letpadan in Burma on 7^th February 1948. Though he was born in Burma, he is a Malayali and his family hailed from Elappully, Palakkad, Kerala.

His father was working in the Burma Railways. He lived in Palakkad till he was five and returned back to Burma. In 1957, his family left Burma. He studied at Madras Christian College School in Chennai. He won first prize in all India essay competition on Tokyo Olympics. He was allowed to visit Tokyo Olympics in 1964. He was an Economics student and got prize for being a best student. Later he went to University of Edinburgh, England and pursued his Masters degree in politics there.

He joined Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and it was at this time that he met A. K. Gopalan, leader of CPI (M) and involved in student politics. He was elected as the president of Jawaharlal Nehru University Student’s Union and was arrested twice for his underground activity during the Emergency period. He served as the Secretary of Delhi State Committee of the CPI (M) from 1982 to 1985. He became a member of the Politburo in 1992 and became the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India in 2005.

Prakash Karat married Brinda Karat of Bengal in 1975. She worked in the Air India office in London and later became a fulltime CPI (M) cadre. She is also serving as the member of the Politburo. They have no children. He had written three books, Language, Nationality and Politics in India, A world to Win – Essays on the Communist Manifesto and Across Time and Continents: A tribute to Victor Kiernan. 

Published: N/A

Updated: June 13, 2018