Prakash Karat, a communist politician from India. The 56-year old Prakash Karat was elected as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on the 11th of April, 2005.

Karat ushers in a new generational change within the CPI(M) and as a behind the scenes politician, analysts say, he will have a major role to play in shaping up the coalition relationship with the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.

Married to social activist and party colleague Brinda , Karat was drawn into the Left movement in the 1960s, as a student in the Madras Christian College . He later went to the University of Edinburgh. He was rusticated there for anti-apartheid protests but taken back on good behaviour. At Jawaharlal Nehru University, in New Delhi, he founded the Students Federation of India and joined the CPI(M) in 1970.

Karat worked underground for one-and-a-half-years during the Emergency rule of 1975-76 imposed by then prime minister Indira Gandhi and was arrested twice. Over the years Karat has kept a low profile but emerged as a key leader of the party. He was elected to the party Central Committee in 1985 and the politburo in 1992.