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{{Short description|Indian independence activist (1914–1992)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Haridas Mitra
| image = Haridas Mitra.jpg
| alt = Mitra, a middle-aged Indian man in a white shirt and black spectacles, photographed showing his head and shoulders.
| caption =
| office = [[List of deputy speakers of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly|Deputy Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly]]
| term_start = 1972
| term_end = 1977
| predecessor = [[Narendra Nath Sen]]
| successor = [[Apurba Lal Majumdar]]
| term_start1 = 1967
| term_end1 = 1968
| predecessor1 = [[Pijush Kanti Mukherjee]]
| successor1 = [[Kalimuddin Shams]]
| party = {{tree list}}
* [[All India Forward Bloc (Ruikar)]]
* [[Praja Socialist Party]]
* [[Indian National Congress]]
{{tree list/end}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1914|2|24|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Jessore]], [[British Raj]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1992|4|20|1914|2|24|df=y}}
| death_place =
| placeofburial =
| parents = Jogendra Nath Mitra (father)
| spouse = [[Bela Mitra|Amita (Bela) Bose]]
| children = 3, including [[Amit Mitra]]
| education = [[University of Calcutta]] ([[Master of Arts|MA]])
| occupation = {{tree list}}
* Politician
* Joint Managing Director of the Jessore Central Co-operative Bank
* Secretary of the Khajuria H.E. School
* [[Trade union]]ist
{{tree list/end}}
| allegiance = [[Indian National Army]] (INA)
| branch = INA secret service
| service_years = {{circa}} 1944
| battles = [[World War II]]
}}
'''Haridas Mitra''' (24 February 1914 – 20 April 1992) was an Indian independence activist, politician, spy, [[trade union]]ist and educator. He was an organiser of the secret service of the [[Indian National Army]] during [[World War II]] and was sentenced to death by the British authorities. After Independence he was elected multiple times to the [[West Bengal Legislative Assembly]]. He served as the Deputy Speaker of the [[West Bengal Legislative Assembly]] in 1967–1968 and in 1972–1977.

==Biography==
Haridas Mitra was born in [[Jessore]] on 24 February 1914<ref name=who/><ref name=cmc>''[https://books.google.at/books?id=iFONAAAAMAAJ Calcutta Municipal Gazette, Vol. 85]''. Office of the Registrar of Newspapers. Press in India., 1966. p. 629</ref> to Jogendra Nath Mitra, an active [[Indian National Congress]] worker and member of the [[British Bengal Legislative Council|Bengal Legislative Council]].<ref name=who/><ref name=cmc/> Haridas Mitra attended the [[Jashore Zilla School|Jessore Zilla School]], and later studied at [[Asutosh College]], [[Vidyasagar College]], [[Vidyasagar College]], University Post-Graduate College, and Law College Calcutta in [[Calcutta]].<ref name=who/> As a student he took part in the 1932 civil disobedience movement, and was imprisoned.<ref name=who/> He obtained a [[Master of Arts]] degree from the [[University of Calcutta]].<ref name=who/> He was the general secretary of the Vidyasagar College Union between 1933 and 1934, and the general secretary at the Post-Graduate Seminar 1935-1936.<ref name=who/>

He married [[Bela Mitra|Amita (Bela) Bose]], the niece of [[Subhas Chandra Bose]].<ref name=who/><ref name=gga/><ref name=psgu/> The couple had two daughters and one son ([[Amit Mitra]]).<ref name=who/><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=Times of India|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/mitra-gets-a-feel-of-his-battle-terrain/articleshow/7789933.cms|title=Mitra gets a feel of his battle terrain|date=26 March 2011|author=Udit Prasanna Mukherji}}</ref> Haridas Mitra worked as the Joint Managing Director of the Jessore Central Co-operative Bank between 1939 and 1942.<ref name=who/> He served as the secretary of the Khajuria H.E. School between 1938 and 1942.<ref name=who/> He was a founding member of the Jessore College Governing Body in 1940, and remained on its board until 1941.<ref name=who/> Mitra's career was cut short when he was imprisoned during the 1942 [[Quit India movement]].<ref name=who/>

Mitra later joined the [[Indian National Army]] in 1944, helping to set up its intelligence apparatus inside India.<ref name=who/> He was arrested by the British authorities.<ref name=who/> Mitra was sentenced to death in a secret trial.<ref name=who/> His life was spared only after the direct intervention of [[Mahatma Gandhi]], who convinced the British authorities to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment.<ref name=who/><ref name=gga/><ref name=link>''[https://books.google.at/books?newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&id=LTNOAQAAIAAJ Personalities]'', in ''Link: Indian Newsmagazine'', Vol. 5, Issue 1, 1962. p. 19</ref> After the establishment of the [[Interim Government of India]], Mitra was unconditionally released in December 1946 on Gandhi's insistence.<ref name=who/> In 1950 he was active in organising relief for refugees from [[East Pakistan]], and he would become the general secretary of the All Bengal Refugee Association.<ref name=who/> His wife died in July 1952.<ref name=psgu/>

Mitra was a member of the [[All India Forward Bloc (Ruikar)]], and became a [[Praja Socialist Party]] member when the two parties merged.<ref name=link/> He would become a member of the West Bengal executive of PSP.<ref name=link/> Mitra was elected to the [[West Bengal Legislative Assembly]] in the [[1957 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election|1957 election]], standing as a PSP candidate in the [[Tollygunj Assembly constituency|Tollygunge constituency]].<ref name=who/><ref name=link/> He obtained 30,412 votes (56.52%).<ref>Election Commission of India. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150508163517/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1957/StatRep_WB_1957.pdf STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1957 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL]''</ref> He was arrested during the 1958 and 1959 refugee movements.<ref name=who/> Mitra served as the president of several [[trade union]]s, such as the unions at [[Jessop & Company]] and Eastern C.C.S.<ref name=who/>

Mitra broke with PSP in 1962, along with some 350 PSP workers,<ref name=link/> as he felt the party had outlived its purpose.<ref name=link/> He joined the Indian National Congress, arguing that only the Congress Party had the capacity to confront big finance capital and implement socialism.<ref name=link/> Mitra was a co-founder of the [[Bangla Congress]].<ref name="who">''[https://books.google.at/books?newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&id=I78yAAAAMAAJ Who's who 1972: General Election, March 1972]''. West Bengal Legislative Assembly Secretariat, 1974. pp. 50–51</ref> He won the [[Chakdaha Assembly constituency|Chakdah seat]] in the [[1967 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election]], standing as the Bangla Congress candidate and obtaining 20,761 votes (42.11%).<ref>Election Commission of India. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150626132659/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1967/Statistical%20report%20WB1967.pdf STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1967 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL]''</ref> He served as the Deputy Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly between 1967 and 1968.<ref name="who" /><ref name="gga" /> He contested the [[Bankura (Lok Sabha constituency)|Bankura Lok Sabha seat]] in the [[1971 Indian general election]] as the Bangla Congress candidate, finishing in fourth place with 29,576 votes (12.03%).<ref>Election Commission of India. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150424145823/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1971/Vol_I_LS71.pdf STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTIONS, 1971 TO THE FIFTH LOK SABHA - VOLUME I (NATIONAL AND STATE ABSTRACTS & DETAILED RESULTS)]''</ref>

He returned to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly election in the [[1972 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election|1972 election]].<ref name="who" /> He stood as the Congress(R) candidate in Chakdah, and 33,144 votes (57.42%).<ref>Election Commission of India. ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150509004440/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1972/StatReport_WB_72.pdf STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1972 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF WEST BENGAL]''</ref> After the election he was again elected Deputy Speaker, serving in the role between 24 March 1972 to 30 April 1977.<ref name="gga" /><ref>{{cite news|newspaper=The Telegraph|url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/india/service-breaker-sprung-on-strike/cid/449633|title=Service-breaker sprung on strike|date=25 February 2012}}</ref> Haridas Mitra died on 20 April 1992.<ref name="gga">Gopal Gandhi. ''[https://books.google.at/books?newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&id=VrkVAQAAIAAJ A Frank Friendship: Gandhi and Bengal : a Descriptive Chronology]''. Seagull Books, 2007. p. 1953</ref><ref name="psgu">Partha Sarathi Gupta. ''[https://books.google.at/books?id=fnoMAQAAMAAJ Towards Freedom: Documents on the Movement for Independence in India, 1943-1944, Part 3]''. Oxford University Press, 1997. p. 2794</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitra, Haridas}}
[[Category:1914 births]]
[[Category:1992 deaths]]
[[Category:Praja Socialist Party politicians]]
[[Category:Bangla Congress politicians]]
[[Category:Indian National Congress politicians from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Trade unionists from West Bengal]]
[[Category:West Bengal MLAs 1957–1962]]
[[Category:West Bengal MLAs 1967–1969]]
[[Category:West Bengal MLAs 1971–1972]]
[[Category:People from Jessore]]
[[Category:Indian National Army personnel]]
[[Category:Deputy speakers of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Jashore Zilla School alumni]]
[[Category:Politicians from Khulna Division]]

Haridas Mitra - Revision history

DelorisQha at 16:20, 24 April 2026