Forgotten By The Left — How Muslim Organisers Built Labour Movements And Were Written Out

Summary of this article

Muslim workers and organisers were central to Left mobilisation across India but remain missing from official histories.

From Bihar’s railway colonies to Bengal’s mills, their labour built the movement while leadership remained upper-caste and Hindu.

A century-long pattern of erasure, from Hasrat Mohani to modern unions, weakened the Left’s connection with Muslim communities.

Growing up in Patna I never met my nana. When I finished high school and began asking about my grandparents, Ammi told me he had abandoned his wife and children and that the family was estranged. Years later, almost in a whisper, I learned he had been a “Communist”, a word that carried stigma in our conservative Muslim household. Being a Communist meant stepping outside the boundaries of co