Ali Amjad (1924–2005): A Forgotten Communist Activist and Writer

The post-Khilafat–Non-Cooperation period occupies a distinctive position in modern India’s history for several reasons. Although one can say that this period (1920s) witnessed a widening of anti-British movements, at the same time, it also demonstrated a kind of aggressive communalism thereby revealing the fragile base of the nationalist forces operating at the time. It is also relevant to mention here that new forces were penetrating India such as communist ideas under the influence of M.N. Roy and his associates. This led to the formation of the Communist Party of India (CPI), whose Bihar branch was established in Patna in 1932 by its founding members: Ali Ashraf, Sunil Mukherji, Anil Mitra, Krishna Chand Chaudhary, among others.