Janab A.M.A. Zaman was an Indian politician and trade unionist. As of 1936 he served as councillor in the Calcutta Municipal Corporation.[1] He won the Hooghly labour seat in the 1936–1937 Bengal Legislative Assembly election.[2] At the time he belonged to the Congress Socialist Party, but he was known for shifting party affiliations frequently.[2]
A.M.A. Zaman was involved in different trade unions. He was a leader of Jute mill workers during the struggle for independence.[3] Whereas many other leaders hailed from the bhadralok, upper classes, A.M.A. Zaman hailed from a working-class background and had been a jute mill worker himself.[4] In the midst of the 1936–1937 labour unrest he founded a jute mill workers union, which was registered in 1936.[5] In July 1937 A.M.A. Zaman was convicted of rioting at a strike in the Wellington Jute Mills in Rishra, but thousands of Hooghly workers turned to the streets to demand his release.[5] A.M.A. Zaman was one of the key speakers of the mass labour rally in Calcutta of 29 July 1937.[6] In December 1937 he was elected general secretary of the Bengal Provincial Trade Union Congress.[2] However, his influence in Hooghly decreased as sardars and babus disseminated a rumour that he had taken a bribe from mill management.[7]
A.M.A. Zaman left the CSP in 1939, after which the party ceased to be influential in Hooghly District.[8] He belonged to the grouping that opposed Indrajit Gupta's influence in the BPTUC.[9]
A.M.A. Zaman was re-elected from the Hooghly-cum-Serampore Registered Factories, Labour seat in the Bengal Legislative Assembly in the 1946 election.[10] He belonged to the Indian National Congress during this period.[11]
After Independence, A.M.A. Zaman won the Jalangi constituency seat of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly in the 1951 election as an Indian National Congress candidate.[12][13] As of 1956 he served as Parliamentary Secretary for the Labour Department.[14]
He was the founding president of the Shiva Glass Employees Union during his tenure as legislator.[15]
References
- ↑ Calcutta Municipal Gazette{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Office of the Registrar of Newspapers. Press in India(1936)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 The Political Parties and the Labour Politics, 1937–47: With Special Reference to Bengal{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Minerva Associates (Publications)(1 January 1992). ISBN 978-81-85195-48-3
- ↑ Towards Freedom: Documents on the Movement for Independence in India 1939{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Oxford University Press(2008). ISBN 978-0-19-569651-6
- ↑ Empire, Industry and Class: The Imperial Nexus of Jute, 1840–1940{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(2 April 2013). ISBN 978-1-135-12730-5
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Rethinking Working-class History: Bengal, 1890–1940{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Princeton University Press(2000). ISBN 0-691-07030-X
- ↑ Struggle and Strife in Urban Bengal, 1937–47: A Study of Calcutta-based Urban Politics in Bengal{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Das Gupta & Company(1991)
- ↑ Unsettled settlers: migrant workers and industrial capitalism in Calcutta{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Uitgeverij Verloren(1994). ISBN 90-6550-418-4
- ↑ The working class movement: a study of jute mills of Bengal, 1937–47{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. K.P. Bagchi & Co.(1994). ISBN 978-81-7074-148-0
- ↑ Communalism in Bengal: From Famine To Noakhali, 1943–47{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. SAGE Publications(1 May 2005). ISBN 978-0-7619-3335-9
- ↑ Bengal Electoral Politics and Freedom Struggle, 1862–1947{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Indian Council of Historical Research(1984)
- ↑ Assam Muslims: Politics & Cohesion{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Mittal Publications(1985)
- ↑ General Elections, India, 1951, to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal. Election Commission.
- ↑ Election results of West Bengal: statistics & analysis, 1952–1991{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. The Committee
- ↑ Assembly Proceedings: official report{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. West Bengal Government Press(3 July 1956)
- ↑ Supreme Court Labour Judgments, 1950–1976: Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (Contd.) to Industrial Disputes (Punjab Amendment) Act. 1957{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Law Publishing House(1950)