Chairperson Pushpesh Tripathi Leader Kashi Singh Airy Political position Centre-left politics | Colours Green Founded 26 July 1979 Color Green | |
 | ||
Headquarters Kranti Bhawan, 10 Court Road, Dehradun, Uttarakhand 248001 Ideology Leftism, Regionalism, Civic nationalism, Democratic Socialism, Protectionism Founders Kashi Singh Airy, Bipin Chandra Tripathi, Indramani Badoni, D. D. Pant | ||
Uttarakhand kranti dal
The Uttarakhand Kranti Dal or UKD, (Hindi: उत्तराखण्ड क्रान्ति दल, translation: Uttarakhand Revolutionary Party) is a regional political party in India. It bills itself as the only regional party of the Uttarakhand in contrast to the national parties that dominate the state's politics.
Contents
In the present Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, elected in 2017, it does not have any member as compared with one member in the previous 2012, three members in 2007 and four members in 2002 assembly elections of the state.
History
The UKD was established on 26 July 1979 by Bipin Chandra Tripathi, Dr. D. D. Pant, Kashi Singh Airy and Indramani Badoni at Nanital to fight for a separate state composed of the hill districts of Uttar Pradesh. The founding convention was chaired by Dr. D. D. Pant, former vice-chancellor of Kumaon University. Under the young leadership of Kashi Singh Airy who took the charge of struggle and public agitation and the aim was finally achieved, when the separate Uttaranchal state was formed on 9 November 2000, later renamed Uttarakhand in 2007. However, in the first ever state assembly elections in 2002, the party won only four out of 70 seats, and was outmaneuvered by the Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party, both despite being late comers to the separate state movement, succeeded in capturing its momentum for electoral gain and formed governments in the state
So far, the UKD has not been able to achieve its ostensible goal in establishing a viable third force in Uttarakhand politics due to splits and divisions within its ranks. However, it maintains friendly relations with left parties in the state such as the Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation and the other minor parties and social movements in Uttarakhand.
The party has taken on various campaigns in the past geared towards the social and economic upliftment of the Highlanders. The party has however embraced a number of causes of concern to the diversity of people living in Uttarakhand, defining the Uttarakhandi identity in broad and inclusive terms. As such, its ideology of civic as opposed to ethnic regionalism can be compared to other centre-left nationalist parties like the Scottish National Party or Plaid Cymru, although its orientation and goals are emphatically non-secessionist.
Leaders
The party’s current face is Kashi Singh Airy, a prominent leader of Uttarakhand movement and a senior leader of Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, who was elected for Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha three times (1985–1989, 1989–1991, 1993–1996) and was elected for first Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha and since has remained president of UKD. with Kashi Singh Airy and Dr. Narayan Singh Jantwal as honorary presidents, vice president are A. P. Juyal, Bhuwan Chandra Joshi and Beena Bahuguna, senior Rajya Andolankari and prominent faces of Uttarakhand Rajya Nirman Andolan who fought from the forefront in the creation of Uttarakhand state. Beena Bahuguna is now elected as Block Pramukh of Raipur, Dehradun. Jaswant Singh Bisht was the first elected MLA of the party from Ranikhet constituency. Other personalities include late Indramani Badoni and late Bipin Chandra Tripathi were the founding members and long time agitators for the separate state movement.
2012 Assembly Elections
At the January 2012 state elections, the party won only 1 of the 70 seats, but because neither the INC nor the BJP received a majority, the UKD took an important role in forming the next government. It chose to support the INC, which was closer to having a majority compared to the BJP, and the INC formed the government in March 2012.