Doraisamy Raja
General Secretary of the Communist Party of India
Assumed office
21 July 2019 (2019-07-21)
Preceded bySuravaram Sudhakar Reddy
Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha
In office
25 July 2007 (2007-07-25) – 24 July 2019 (2019-07-24)
ConstituencyTamil Nadu
Personal details
Born (1949-06-03) 3 June 1949
Chithathoor, Vellore District, Madras State, Dominion of India
(present day Tamil Nadu, India)
Political partyCommunist Party of India
Spouse
​
(m. 1990)​
ChildrenAparajitha Raja
Parents
  • P. Doraisamy
  • Nayagam
Education
Alma mater
OccupationPolitician

Doraisamy Raja (born 3 June 1949) is an Indian politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) since July 2019. He was former member of Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu.[1][2] He was the national secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) from 1994 to 2019.[1][3][4]

Early life and education

Raja was born in Chithathoor, in the Vellore district of Tamil Nadu, to a Dalit family.[1][5] His father, P. Doraisamy, and mother, Nayagam, were landless agricultural workers.[1]

He completed a B.Sc. from G.T.M. College in Gudiyattam, and a B.Ed. from Government Teachers College in Vellore.[6] He was the first graduate in a predominantly Dalit village.[7] Till he finished primary school, Raja survived on a mid-day meal but in high school he often went hungry because his mother couldn't afford lunch for him and there were no free meals.[8][6] Raja claimed that he developed his reading habit when he was allowed in the reading rooms during the PT periods because the PT teacher knew he was often on empty stomach.[9]

While in college, he became active in student politics.[1][6]

Personal life

Raja met his wife, Annie Raja, while they were both in the All India Youth Federation, and they married on 7 January 1990 in a simple wedding. She is now the general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women, the women wing of the CPI, and they have a daughter together named Aparajitha Raja.[10] Aparajitha Raja was herself an activist during her student days.[11]

During April 2021, Raja was diagnosed with COVID-19 while campaigning for election and had to be admitted to AIIMS.[12]

Political career

During college, he joined the All India Students Federation and became active in student politics. He later became the leader of the All India Youth Federation and was the State Secretary of the Tamil Nadu unit from 1975 to 1980, and was then elected general secretary from 1985 to 1990. He became the national secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) in 1994 and served until 2019. On 21 July 2019, the National Council of the CPI elected him as the general secretary of the party.[13]

Raja was first elected to Rajya Sabha in July 2007 from Tamil Nadu and was re-elected in 2013.[1]

Raja took over as general secretary of Communist Party of India (CPI) on July 21, 2019. Raja was the first Dalit to occupy the position in a mainstream communist party. His name was proposed unanimously by the CPI national secretariat.[14]

Writing for the Indian Express regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, he wrote that "If peace is to prevail in the world, NATO should be disbanded."[15]

Bibliography

  • Dalit Question: The Way Forward (New Delhi, CPI Publication, 2007)
  • Marx and Ambedkar: Continuing the Dialogue by D. Raja, N. Muthumohan (New Century Book House, 2018)
  • D. Raja in the Parliament by Rajeev Suman (The Marginalised Publication, 2021)[16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Detailed Profile: Shri D. Raja". National Portal of India. Archived from the original on 10 May 2020. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  2. ↑ "D. Raja". prsindia.org.
  3. ↑ "Tamil Nadu News : Doraisamy Raja, CPI candidate for RS polls". The Hindu. 24 May 2007. Archived from the original on 25 May 2007. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "CPI re-nominates D. Raja for Rajya Sabha". The Hindu. 16 June 2013.
  5. ↑ "D. Raja: Age, Biography, Education". One India.
  6. 1 2 3 "'I never fasted but I starved,' CPI leader D Raja on growing up in poverty". Hindustan Times. 16 December 2018.
  7. ↑ "King and queen of hearts". The Week. Archived from the original on 6 March 2023. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  8. ↑ "CPI's D. Raja recalls humble beginnings at book release". The Hindu. 11 September 2021. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  9. ↑ Jigeesh, A. M. (2 August 2019). "Comrade Raja's onward march". www.thehindubusinessline.com. Retrieved 7 April 2022.
  10. ↑ Paul, Cithara (22 December 2018). "King and queen of hearts". The Week. Archived from the original on 6 March 2023. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  11. ↑ Saini, Shivam (27 February 2016). "Aparajitha Raja is in the eye of a 'patriotic' storm". Business Standard India. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  12. ↑ "D. Raja admitted to AIIMS". The Hindu. 12 April 2021. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 11 April 2021.
  13. ↑ "D. Raja takes over as CPI general secretary". The Hindu. 21 July 2019.
  14. ↑ "D. Raja takes over as CPI general secretary". The Hindu. 21 July 2019.
  15. ↑ "NATO is a danger to world peace. It must go". 6 April 2022.
  16. ↑ "CPI's D. Raja recalls humble beginnings at book release". The Hindu. 11 September 2021.
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