S.S. Yusuf

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Sant Singh Yusuf was an Indian trade unionist and politician.

In the 1920s he organised cotton mill workers unions in Delhi and Bombay.[1] His adopted name combined his paternal Hindu name Sant Singh and Maulana Yusuf, a Muslim alias he had used whilst in clandestine activities in the 1930s.[2] The Communist Party of India sent Sant Singh alias Mohammed Yusuf to Kanpur in 1936, to become a trade union organiser there.[3] On 9 September 1936 he led over 2,000 workers at a strike at the Atherton West Cotton Mills.[3][1]

Yusuf served as general secretary of the Kanpur Mazdoor Sabha 1937-1938 during the presidency of Harihar Nath Shastri and during the 1937 general strike.[4] Yusuf was elected president of the Kanpur Mazdoor Sabha in 1938, supported by coalition of communist and anti-Shastri Indian National Congress members.[4] At the 21 August 1938 KMS assembly Yusuf obtained 70 votes against 44 for the Congress Socialist Shastri.[3]

Yusuf ran as a candidate for the Kanpur seat in the 1952 Indian general election, finishing in third place with 22.1% of the votes.[5] He led the 1955 strike in Kanpur.[6]

Yusuf won the Kanpur II seat in the 1962 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, obtaining 23,119 votes (34.54%).[7] S.S. Yusuf finished in third place in the Govind Nagar seat in the 1967 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, obtaining 9,907 votes (17.89%).[8] He won the Govind Nagar seat in the 1974 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly election.[9]

As of the mid-1970s he served as the President of the Uttar Pradesh Trade Union Congress.[10] He served as vice president of the All India Trade Union Congress.[6]

Sant Singh Yusuf died in Kanpur on 6 June 1982 after protracted illness, at the age of 76.[11][6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Shiva Mohan Pandey (1970). As Labour Organizes: A Study of Unionism in the Kanpur Cotton Textile Industry. Shri Ram Centre for Industrial Relations. p. 47.
  2. ^ Stefan Molund (1988). First We are People--: The Koris of Kanpur Between Caste and Class. Department of Social Anthropology, University of Stockholm. p. 63. ISBN 978-91-7146-701-0.
  3. ^ a b c Pandey, S. M. Ideological Conflict in the Kanpur Trade Union Movement, 1934-1945. Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, vol. 3, no. 3, 1968, pp. 243–268. JSTOR. Accessed 6 Sept. 2020.
  4. ^ a b Paul R. Brass (1965). Factional Politics in an Indian State: The Congress Party in Uttar Pradesh. University of California Press. pp. 137–138. GGKEY:FH10XD57FZH.
  5. ^ Economic & Political Weekly. II An Industrial Labour Constituency: Kanpur
  6. ^ a b c Trade Union Record. All-India Trade Union Congress. 1982. p. 8.
  7. ^ Election Commission of India. Uttar Pradesh 1962
  8. ^ Election Commission of India. Uttar Pradesh 1967
  9. ^ Sir Stanley Reed (1974). The Times of India Directory and Year Book Including Who's who. Bennett, Coleman & Company. p. 675.
  10. ^ Amity. Indo-Soviet Cultural Society. 1975. p. 8.
  11. ^ Vimla Kaul (1978). India Since Independence: Chronology of Events. Sagar Publications. p. 1655.