Prakash Karat

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**Prakash Karat**
Prakash Karat
Born	19 October 1947 Calcutta, West Bengal
Residence	New Delhi
Office	General Secretary, Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Predecessor	Harkishan Singh Surjeet
Political party	Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Religion	Atheist
Spouse	Brinda Karat
Website: www.cpim.org
As of January 27, 2007 Source: [1]

Prakash Karat,(പ്രകാശ കാരത) is communist politician from India. The 56-year old Prakash Karat was elected as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on the 11th of April, 2005.

1 Education and early career
2 Communist Party
3 Party Leader
4 Academia

[edit] Education and early career

Prakash Karat was educated at the Madras Christian College where he won the prize for the best all round achievement. He then went on to study at the University of Edinburgh to study politics. His activism began with anti-apartheid protests at the University, for which he was expelled. The expulsion was later reversed. [2]

[edit] Communist Party

He returned to India in 1970 and joined the CPI(M). He began working as an aide to the party leader A K Gopalan. He was involved with student politics and was elected President of the Jawaharlal Nehru University Student's Union. He also became the first President of the Students Federation of India between 1974 to 1979. He went underground during the emergency and was arrested twice. [3]

[edit] Party Leader

He was elected to the Central Committee of the CPI (M) and 1985 and became a member of the Politburo in 1992. The Politburo is the key decision making wing of the party. In 2006, he was elected General Secretary, effectively the most influential position in the party structure. Some analysts claim that Karat ushers in a new generational change within the CPI(M). [4]

[edit] Academia

Since 1992, Karat has been on the editorial board of CPI(M)'s academic journal, The Marxist. He is also the managing editor of Leftword. He is the author of three books.