Freedom fighter and veteran socialist Abbas Ali passed away on 11 October 2014 in Aligarh. Abbas Ali was a captain in the Indian National Army led by Subhas Chandra Bose. Later he joined the Socialist movement and was a close associate of Ram Manohar Lohia.
Abbas Ali was born on 3 January 1920 at Khurja, Bulandshahr district of Uttar Pradesh into a Muslim Rajput family. From his early days he was inspired by the revolutionary ideas of Bhagat Singh and joined Naujawan Bharat Sabha, an organization founded by Singh and his colleagues while he was a high school student at Khurja. While pursuing his studies at Aligarh Muslim University he came in contact with Kunwar Muhammed Ashraf and become member of the All India Students Federation.
In 1948 Abbas Ali joined the Socialist Party led by Acharya Narendra Deva, Jayaprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia and remained associated with all the Socialist streams namely the Socialist Party, Praja Socialist Party, Samyukta Socialist Party and Socialist Party until its merger with the Janata Party in 1977. During the emergency (1975–77) he was imprisoned for 19 months under the Defense of India rule (DIR) and the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and when emergency was lifted in 1977 and Janata Party came into power he became first President of the Uttar Pradesh unit of Janata party.[citation needed] In 1978 he was elected to the UP Legislative Council for six years. He had been a member of UP Sunni Central Waqf Board for six years. He wrote his autobiography Na Rahoon Kisi ka Dastenigar-Mera Safarnama in 2008
Long Live Abbas Ali!
