B. T. Ranadive

Part of a series on
Communism in India
Communist Party of India AITUC AIKS AIYF AISF NFIW BKMU
Communist Party of India (Marxist) CITU AIKS DYFI SFI AIDWA GMP
C.P.I. (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) AICCTU AIALA RYA AISA AIPWA ASDC AIPCC
Other Communist Parties Communist Ghadar Party of India Naxalbari uprising Communist Party of India (M-L) New Democracy Janashakti PCC 2nd CC Red Flag Class Struggle Communist Party of India (Maoist)
Socialist Unity Centre AIUTUC AIMSS AIDYO AIDSO
Indian Communist Leaders Abani Mukherji A. K. Gopalan Ajoy Ghosh Anand Anuradha Ghandy Avtar Singh Malhotra Azad Azhikodan Raghavan Bhupesh Gupta B. T. Ranadive Charu Majumdar E. K. Imbichi Bava E. K. Nayanar E. M. S. Namboodiripad Ganapathy Guru Radha Kishan Jagannath Sarkar Jyoti Basu Saroj Dutta Geeta Mukherjee Prasanta Sur Indrajit Gupta K. Damodaran Kishenji Kobad Ghandy Kondapalli Seetharamaiah Kosa M. N. Roy Moturu Hanumantha Rao Mohit Sen M.P.T. Acharya Narmada Akka P. Krishna Pillai Prashant Bose Puchalapalli Sundaraiah Puran Chand Joshi Shamsher Singh Sheri Shibdas Ghosh T. Nagi Reddy V. S. Achuthanandan
Communist Movements Tebhaga movement CCOMPOSA Telangana Rebellion Comrades Association Communist Party of French India Communism World Communist Movement
Communism portal

Bhalchandra Trimbak Ranadive (19 December 1904 – 6 April 1990), popularly known as BTR was an Indian communist politician and trade union leader.

B. T. Ranadive

BTR (right) with AKG

BTR memorial in Allepey

BTR completed his studies in 1927, obtaining an M.A degree with distinction. In 1928 he joined the clandestine Communist Party of India. In the same year he became a major leader of the All India Trade Union Congress in Bombay. He was active with the Girini Kamgar Union of the textile workers in Bombay and with the struggles of the railway workers. He became the secretary of the GIP Railwaymens’ Union. In 1939, he married Vimal, a trade union activist.

In 1943 he was elected to the central committee of the party. In February 1946 BTR played a major role in organizing a general strike in support of the Naval ratings revolt.

At its 2nd Party Congress held in Calcutta in February, 1948 the party elected BTR in place of P.C. Joshi as its general secretary.^[1] BTR was the general secretary of CPI 1948-1950. During that period the party was engaged in revolutionary uprisings, such as the Telangana armed struggle. In 1950 BTR was deposed, and denounced by the party as a "left adventurist".

In 1956, at the 4th Party Congress in Palghat BTR was again included in the Central Committee. He became a leading figure of the leftist section of the CC.

BTR Bhavan, Kerala

At the time of the Indo-China border conflict in 1962, BTR was one of many prominent communist leaders jailed by the government. In 1964 he became one of the main leaders of Communist Party of India (Marxist).

At the founding conference of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions in Calcutta May 28–31 1970, BTR was elected president. The central building of CITU in New Delhi is named after him, BTR Bhavan.

He was elder brother of Ahilya Rangnekar, a CPI-M leader and 6th Lok Sabha member from Mumbai North Central (Lok Sabha constituency)

Notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to B. T. Ranadive.

• "B.T. Ranadive: Life and Teachings by M.K. Pandhe". Archived from the original on 10 August 2004. Retrieved 2008-10-18.  CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)