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Abdur Razzak Molla

Overview

Abdur Razzak Molla is an Indian politician from West Bengal. He has served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) representing constituencies in the South 24 Parganas district, and has held ministerial responsibilities in the Government of West Bengal. Long associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)), he later joined the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC).

Key facts

Name Abdur Razzak Molla
Nationality Indian
Profession Politician
State West Bengal
Earlier party Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Current party All India Trinamool Congress
Office Member of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly

Background

Molla hails from the South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, a region with a strong agrarian base and a long history of left-wing political mobilisation. His political career emerged from grassroots organisation in rural Bengal, with a focus on land reforms, agricultural workers, and minority communities.

Political career

With the CPI(M)

Molla was for several decades among the prominent legislators of the CPI(M) in West Bengal. He was repeatedly elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly from constituencies in the South 24 Parganas region. During the period of the Left Front government in West Bengal, he served as a minister, with portfolios connected to land and land reforms — a policy area central to the Left Front's political identity in the state.

Transition to the Trinamool Congress

After the Left Front's defeat in the 2011 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, Molla remained an MLA but his relationship with the CPI(M) leadership grew strained. He was eventually expelled from the CPI(M). He subsequently joined the All India Trinamool Congress and contested and won subsequent assembly elections on a Trinamool Congress ticket. He was later inducted into the Trinamool-led state cabinet under Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Significance

Molla's career reflects the broader political transition in West Bengal from three-and-a-half decades of Left Front dominance to Trinamool Congress rule. As a long-serving rural legislator who shifted political camps, his trajectory has been cited in commentary on the realignment of Bengal's agrarian and minority vote bases after 2011.

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